A Rainbow of Color: Garnet Mineral Collection

[jakesrocks]

Hey Jan, got a Kimzyite specimen coming. Should be here Monday. I'll post a pic here.

[gingerkid]

Thank you, MrP! Would love to check out your specimens posted in your avatar.

Woah, Starguy, that's a beauty! *Stars galore* I hope you will hang on to that cab. Fascinating to see it show 6 and 4 rays. Are you going to make a piece of jewelry with it? Thank you for posting it and the crystals! I would carry the garnet crystals in my pocket.

Have you cut any cat's eyes with the crystals? I've seen one almandine cats eye that was listed at the House of Onyx, but it must have found a loving home since it isn't listed any longer.

Good to see you, washingtonrocks!! Thank you for posting your gorgeous hydrogrossulars! Beautiful material!! Love the pic with the light shining through the HGG!

Don, you found another kimzeyite?! Cannot wait to see it!!

[gingerkid]

Terrible pic of a pair of andradite garnet cat's eye cabs from San Benito county, California. They don't fit the cab settings too well.


Andradite cat's eye
San Benito county, California

Here's some heated garnets that @rocks2dust kindly sent to me to play with. You can see how the garnet's surface has been effected by the heat in the close-up. They have an iridescent-look to them.


Heated garnet parcel




close-up of heated garnet parcel

[gingerkid]

Purchased a rainbow/iridescent garnet TN from Japan's Nara Prefecture and it should arrive next week.

It has a nice cubic-shaped xtal on it, although it is difficult to tell from the seller's pic if it is a complete xtal. I'm hoping it is a complete xtal, lol.

Will post a photo of it when it arrives.

[jakesrocks]

Dang Jan, I think you've cornered the world wide market on garnets. But you missed one. Either today or Monday I'll have an Andradite cluster from Zacatecas, Mexico.

[gingerkid]

jakesrocks said:

Dang Jan, I think you've cornered the world wide market on garnets. But you missed one. Either today or Monday I'll have an Andradite cluster from Zacatecas, Mexico.

ROFL, and thank you, jakesrocks! I wish I could afford one of each.

Would you please post a link to the Mexican andradite specimen that you won, Don? I don't think I can muster patience to see it later today or Monday, lol. I really would like to see it!! I hope you'll also share a pic of it with us on the forum, too.

[jakesrocks]

Here ya go Jan. Think I'll have to clean this one a little bit to get it to really shine. www.ebay.com/itm/Andradite-Garnet-Crystals-Zacatecas-Mexico-/351373747114?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=el6MxZ55LKBVbYFMr967fGqPD9k%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

[gingerkid]

That's a nice andradite specimen, jakesrocks!! Congratulations!!! I'm jealous, lol, and will probably drive myself crazy trying to find a Mexican andradite specimen.

Do you know what the host rock is on the specimen?

I looked at John Betts' website for Mexican andradite. Saw a Mexican demantoid that is also found in Mexico, which I didn't know, although the crystals are a very light green. Not sure if these should be called demantoid.

Here's a garnet specimen collection that is outstanding. He also has other specimens that I highly recommend checking out.

Alan Guisewite also has a lot of information on his website on minerals worth reading.

www.cs.cmu.edu/~adg/adg-piimages.html

[jakesrocks]

Not sure what the host rock is. I'll see if I can figure it out when the specimen gets here.

Like I said, it needs a good cleaning. As soon as the weather dries out, I'll break out my little soda blaster, and see if I can make those crystals shine.

I'm gonna have to set aside a few hours to go through Guisewite's collections. Should be some interesting pics & reading.

I'll send a message to the seller of my specimen to find out if he has more. If so, I'll let you know in advance of the sale. I had a message from him a couple days ago. This weekend he's going to the Denver show to buy new specimens to offer. He'll also be meeting with several of the miners, to see if he can come up with some rare and unusual specimens.

[gingerkid]

ROFL, yes, it may take a little while to check out Alan Guisewite's website. I have it bookmarked and also use it as a mineral guide or reference.

jakesrocks said:

I'll send a message to the seller of my specimen to find out if he has more. If so, I'll let you know in advance of the sale. I had a message from him a couple days ago. This weekend he's going to the Denver show to buy new specimens to offer. He'll also be meeting with several of the miners, to see if he can come up with some rare and unusual specimens.

Thank you, Don!!

[gingerkid]

Here's an iridescent andradite, sometimes called 'rainbow garnet.' This one is from Japan's Nara Prefecture, but rainbow garnet is also found in Mexico.

The Mexican rainbow garnet is spectacular, but finding a specimen is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The Japanese andradite specimen is a root beer-color, and the faces on the largest crystal have a bluish-purplish color and sometimes a greenish color to them in the sun. I tried to get a couple of good pics of the different colors I saw in it.



Iridescent Rainbow Garnet (thumbnail)
Kose Mine, Tenkawa Village, Nara Prefecture, Japan

[Fossilman]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gingerkid]

Thank you, Fossilman!

[gingerkid]

Here's a few more garnets I recently acquired that I wanted to share with forum members.

Here's the pretty garnet minerals that I received from Stephen of Orkyton Minerals on GemRockAuctions. Stephen accidentally sent me the incorrect andradite and even though I offered to return it to him, he let me keep the specimen and sent the andradite I purchased.

Stephen lives in Greece and his sales help support miners in his area. He also tutors children. I highly recommend him!


Clinozoisite with grossular
Kresti Hill, Kato Nevrokopi, Drama, Macedonia, Hellas
(please note: I found a similar specimen on mindat that listed this as andradite with clinozoisite, but I believe it is grossular as Stephen of Orkyton Minerals listed it)




Andradite with nice color zoning on garnet crystal edges
Serifos Island, Hellas




Serifos Island andradite with hedenbergite(?)




Here's another shot of the small bouquet of Serifos Island andradite sitting on top of what I think may be hedenbergite



Other garnets:


Almandine from China (unpolished)




Pakistani spessartine thumbnail with microline feldspar and possibly calcite (on end)




Pakistani spessartine showing etching in crystals




Andradite with quartz
Stanley Butte, Arizona
From Ex. collection of Buck Keller




Demantoid in serpentine
Jiang Xi Province, China
large cabinet specimen



This is the seller's (Allen) close-up pic of the demantoid in serpentine


Thanks, again, for checking them out!

[jakesrocks]

Wow Jan, I must have been sleeping. I missed a couple of your latest posts. All beautiful specimens, but that iridescent specimen from Japan is drop dead gorgeous. Gotta get me a specimen of that.

[gingerkid]

...more garnets...

This specimen was listed as 'Uvarovite on Diopside from Magog, Ontario, Canada from the 1960's,' so I researched it and read a discussion on mindat that the uvarovite is probably chromian grossular and found at Orford Nickel Mine. I asked the seller about it and he agreed and said he forgot to change the information on his website.


Chromian grossular on diopside
Orford Nickel Mine, Canada








shot of the diopside xtals




Garnet (andradite?) on actinolite
Stanley Butte, Arizona




cheater shot of tiny garnets on actinolite


Thanks for checkin' them out!

[gingerkid]

yep...more garnets...

This TN was a freebie from @rocks2dust. Thank You, rocks2dust!!!

Cryolithionite "fluorite garnet"
Garnet structural group
Ivigtut, Arsuk Fjord, Sermersooq, Greenland (type locality)
Thumbnail

rruff.info/uploads/AM56_18.pdf




Tsavorite (grossular)
Kenya
Thumbnail




Grossular and vesuvianite (idocrase)
(Happy Camp Jade, Californite, and Pulga Jade)
Happy Camp, California
unpolished slab


Thanks for checking 'em out!

[Fossilman]

Oh ya'! Thumbs up

[gingerkid]

Thank you, Man of Fossils fossilman!

[snowmom]

Jans museum of garnets. Thanks for this thread, I'm learning so much! what a collection of beauties.