Detailed information
Species
Spessartine
Dimensions
57 x 65 x 20
mm
Weight
68 g
Locality
Wushan Spessartine Mine, Tongbei Yunxiao Co., Zhangzhou Prefecture Fujian Province, China
Condition
No recorded repairs
Spessartine, a manganese-rich garnet, is rarely seen as display-worthy crystals except at three or four notable localities worldwide. Of these, each produces its own distinctive form: from deep burgundy-coloured crystals embedded in Galena at the Broken Hill mines in New South Wales, Australia to large golden-orange individual rounded crystals from Tanzania. Those from the Wushan Spessartine mine (not so much a mine, but a series of small quarries) at Tongbei in Fujian Province, China are perhaps the most complex crystallographic form, and also the most intensely coloured. This superb miniature specimen from Wushan Spessartine mine comprises a thin bed of extremely lustrous orange-red complex cubo-trapezohedral Spessartine crystals with superb parallel growth lines. Individually, these reach 9 mm in diameter and display superb transparency, creating an intense internal 'fire' when light is directed upon them. The crystals are grown alongside each other, but many stand up, meaning that their amazing structural form can be enjoyed. A truly magnificent Spessartine.