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Mandarin Garnet

about Mandarin Garnet

Mandarin garnets are spessartite garnets of pure orange color, sometimes described as Fanta orange, after the soft drink to describe color. Mandarin garnets are very brilliant hard gemstones good for any type of jewelry. Garnet is the designated birthstone for January.
Mandarin garnets were first discovered in the north-west of Namibia in 1991 on the Kunene river. The crystals were of an unusually fine intensely radiant orange to a reddish orange. The crystals were of exceptional quality with hardly any inclusions to interfer with their brilliance. These qualities seperated the Namibian spesartite garnet from any other spessartite garnet known at the time. Soon the crysals found their way to cutting centers around the world. Most were faceted to maximize on their vivid color and brilliance. In the beginning there were many names given to the Namibian spessartite. Some called them "orange-red beauties" others "Kunene Spessartines" after where they had been found, while others called them "Hollandines". After some debate the illustrative name "Mandarin Garnet" prevailed and remains today. Sadly the Namibian source was exhausted after a short while. At the beggining the gemstones had been found at the very surface, but gradually they had to dig deeper and deeper, the yield becoming smaller and smaller with the costs running higher and higher. Finally, production was ceased. These beautiful spessartites had become the star of the international jewelry scene. Fortunately in 1994 more fine grade orange spessartite appeared on the market, this time from Nigeria. Some of these gemstones from Nigeria are a pure spectral orange color and are being called by the illustrative name "mandarin garnet" in the trade. Nigeria mines also produce fine orange-red to red spessartite gemstones that are of exceptional quality and beauty. These are being reffered to as spessartite garnet. Hopefully the Nigerian mines will continue to produce the fine orange garnets for years to come.
 

Mandarin Garnet

Treatment: none
Origin: Namibia
Hardness: 7-7.5
Shape: oval
Clarity: VVS, eye clean
Material: garnet
Width: 8.03m
Height: 4.36mm
Length: 10.14mm
Weight: 2.72mm
Color: Vivid Orange


beautiful vivid orange color. Excellent cut and polish. VVS-eye clean clarity.

Price: $2,040.00