Gem: Hessonite Garnet with lamellar overgrowth of garnet, and minor diopside
Weight: 2.93 grams
Dimensions: 14 x 12 x 11 mm
Clarity: N/A - translucent / glows in sun
Origin: VAG Asbesdos Quarry at Lowell / Eden / Belvidere Mtn., Lamoille County, Vermont
Treatments: None
Comments:
I am always thrilled to be able to offer the ultimate rarity for a mineral business based out of Northern Vermont -- We have a WORLD CLASS Hessonite deposit just 8 miles north of us, and yet they are some of the most rare American minerals out there. I am lucky enough to be offering a couple of faceted stones, currently, along with this wonderful crystal:
It is a cinnamon orange, with very clean, crisp and even meet points, but it also has a very interesting feature I don't see a lot - Some of the crystal faces are just a little bit recessed, except around the edges, and in these recessed planes, we see lamellar growth of hessonite garnet! To an untrained eye, it just looks like the garnet is flaking off and losing a layer, but in reality, this is an incredibly thin, secondary overgrowth of hessonite! The secondary growth is trying to use the original garnet's crystal structure as a seed point to resume crystallization, but it appears to have been a very brief effort at that.
The specimen is mostly complete all around, with a few minor contact points here and there. The specimen sits most aesthetically with it's contacted side down, and then it shows like it is almost perfect. There is one little spot of diopside on one side, but otherwise is a lone single garnet with almost ideal proportions.