A Rainbow of Color: Garnet Mineral Collection

[jamesp]

Entrance to river is just below the road number 898 middle of screen in this link Jan.
goo.gl/maps/d9zyR

[gingerkid]

Thank You, everyone, for your kind comments on the garnets.

Ms. Pat, I love your specimen! It sure is pretty! Wonder why someone shellacked the specimen?

Hi, Don, and Thank You! I would love to trade a specimen for an almandine garnet you collected. Maybe a thumbnail? Is there a specimen you would like to have that I could trade with you for the specimen??

Thanks, Darryl! I have the specimens in a curio cabinet that we found on sale. Our cat, Max, thinks the cabinet is his, and a friend of mine named it the "caTbinet."

Here it is:

This is Max in the catbinet after I cleaned the glass and started adding specimens. He's on the bottom shelf.









The garnets are displayed on the 2nd to the bottom and bottom shelves. I made some display stands by gluing perky boxes, spray painting boxes and wooden stands and using tiles with cork glued on them.

gemfeller, would you please add pics of your garnet gems, or maybe create a thread of them? I would love to see them!!

jamesp said:

I found these years ago Jan in your back yard(Dallas GA). Garnrt Hill. They ground them to make sand paper.
some still have their crystal faces. I don't think the ants bought them to the surface.

ROFL, James!! Those are big ones! I love your display!!! Any pics of all of the display?? Many thank you's for posting directions of locations to hunt for garnets! Will you get shot at for going to these spots or arrested for trespassing?

[jamesp]

I have a friend that owns a cabin about 5 miles down river. We ride ATV's from his house to there on the county dirt roads.
It is totally desolate out there. You would think they are private logging roads. Go up road 1(Dam Road) and you can see for
miles over the Tallapoosa National Forest. I must have found 40-50 quartz arrowheads and a few out of (imported flint) on
#1 road.
I love your display ! I see your garnets are front and center. Great collection and thanks for sharing. If you go to Talledega
let me know and i can at least stay close to the phone till you guys find your way.

[jakesrocks]

Jan, all of the garnets I collected were thumbnail or slightly larger size. Not very pretty specimens. All are coated with a silvery schist.

Just got some new minerals. The guy I buy from always includes some freebies with my order. Today one of the freebies was a thumbnail sized raspberry colored grossular garnet from Sierra de Cruces, Lake Jaco, Coahuila, Mexico.

[drocknut]

Wow, what a great collection of garnets. Your collection is way out of my league and I don't have near that many but have a few garnets. This is a showcase I put up in 2012 at the Helena Gem and Mineral Show:

[jamesp]

I found the 'Little Bob Pyrite Mine' that apparently had killer garnets Jan. I went there a few years ago and almost had to get air lifted out of the kudzu.LOL.
www.mindat.org/maps.php?id=7915

[rockpickerforever]

Wow, Jan, nice garnet collection. Thanks for sharing it.

I probably have few I could send to you as well. Jean

[paulshiroma]

REally, really impressive collection! And I like your cat!
Paul

[gemfeller]

Mar 3, 2014 16:54:41 GMT -5 gingerkid said:

gemfeller, would you please add pics of your garnet gems, or maybe create a thread of them? I would love to see them!!

I'll post a few recently-photographed images in this thread. If members want to see more I'll create a separate thread.

Minerals in the Garnet Group are "miscible." That means several different species can mix together in varying proportions, with almost endless variations of color. Identifying them specifically becomes a very tough job. That's why so many trade names describing color such as "Raspberry Rhodolite" and "Mandarin Orange Spessartine" are used. These stones were cut from African garnet containing garnet species pyrope, almandine, spessartine and doubtless other minor species. The strong orange comes from the spessartine content. They're slightly dark-toned but very flashy.

[pghram]

gingerkid & drocknut, nice displays.

James, I wonder how those large garnets of yours would tumble?

gemfeller, beautiful gems, did you facet them? I would enjoy seeing soem more.

Rich

[vegasjames]

Here are some you may find interesting.  Ever see botryoidal garnets?

[garock]

Love you collection of garnets. I have a few from here in Carroll County. Some in schisit from near Roopville, GA and some from Villa Rica not far off I-20 on the north side in a subdivision. James posted a pic of garnets from Garnet Hill near Hiram. I know the genleman that owned the property at one time. He also found and dug for some in his front yard with a front end loader. His wife was not very happy at all. His sons and daughters are in to collecting rocks and they helped him get the garnets out.

[jakesrocks]

I have a nice specimen of Spessartine Garnets with smoky Quartz coming. I'll post a pic when it gets here.

[gemfeller]

Here's a specimen of the uvarovite garnet species from Russia. The uvarovite druse is on chromite with white quartz. This chromium garnet almost never occurs in crystals large enough to facet. That's a pity because its intense green hue would make amazing cut stones although its "cousins," green grossular (Tsavorite) and green andradite (demantoid) fill the garnet group's green hue position very well. 

Uvarovite Druse, Russia

[gemfeller]

I meant to post this image along with my uvarovite mineral specimen but couldn't locate it. Now the lost is found. This is one of nicest uvarovite jewelry druses I've owned:

[gingerkid]

Thank y'all for your very kind comments on the garnet mineral collection.

Diane, I love your garnet showcase!! Did you find the garnets that are in the pan?

Thanks, Paul, Max is my sidekick and he enjoys rocks and minerals, too. He has a collection of fossil fish pieces that rocks2dust sent to him.

Those are gorgeous, gemfeller!! Please post more pics!! gemfeller wrote a wonderful article on gem garnets.

jamesp said:

I found the 'Little Bob Pyrite Mine' that apparently had killer garnets Jan. I went there a few years ago and almost had to get air lifted out of the kudzu.LOL.

ROFL!! Botryoidal garnets. lol.

garock said:

James posted a pic of garnets from Garnet Hill near Hiram. I know the genleman that owned the property at one time. He also found and dug for some in his front yard with a front end loader. His wife was not very happy at all. His sons and daughters are in to collecting rocks and they helped him get the garnets out.

Would have enjoyed seeing that sight and site, garock!!

[drocknut]

gingerkid, I did find some of them although a lot of the ones in the pan were from an old collection that I was given.

[vegasjames]

Mar 8, 2014 12:36:57 GMT -5 gingerkid said:

ROFL!! Botryoidal garnets. lol.

These are garnets, and here is a link to the definition of botryoidal for you:

www.gemselect.com/other-info/botryoidal-gems.php

The geologist I showed these too also agreed they were botryoidal garnets.

You remind me of this idiot we have in the gem club who likes to argue over anything anyone says.  Last month the club was out collecting rocks and I found some druzy and handed it to one of the club members.  This guy immediately started arguing that it was not drusy but rather tiny crystals of copper and zinc.  Regardless of what they may or may not have been the definition of drusy is tiny crystals:

www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,6,44327,44583

Druzy is not a particular type of stone but rather refers to a growth pattern, just like botryoidal does not refer to a particular type of stone but also rather a growth pattern.

[gingerkid]

vegasjames said:

You remind me of this idiot we have in the gem club who likes to argue over anything anyone says. Last month the club was out collecting rocks and I found some druzy and handed it to one of the club members.This guy immediately started arguing that it was not drusy but rather tiny crystals of copper and zinc. Regardless of what they may or may not have been the definition of drusy is tiny crystals:

www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,6,44327,44583

Druzy is not a particular type of stone but rather refers to a growth pattern, just like botryoidal does not refer to a particular type of stone but also rather a growth pattern.

vegasjames, Thank you for your unnecessary comments. You misunderstood my post. I was chuckling at jamesp speaking of almost needing an airlift because he was "trapped" in kudzu while looking for garnets. Then I thought he was trying to be humorous showing us his "botryoidal" garnets.

edited to add--I thought jamesp posted the botryoidal garnets, then realized it was your post. My apologies.

I have not seen botryoidal garnets before until jamesp (edited again: you posted, not James) posted them and find it fascinating that there are botryoidal garnets. One fascinating aspect of rock, gem, and mineral collecting is that there's always something new to learn.

I do not consider myself argumentative, nor an idiot, although I might not be the crunchiest cracker in the box. I know many of the forum members from other forums, and I do not believe that they find me argumentative in the least.

Thanks for sharing the botryoidal garnets with us. What locality are they from?

[rocpup]

Mar 9, 2014 1:58:17 GMT -5 vegasjames said:

Mar 8, 2014 12:36:57 GMT -5 gingerkid said:

ROFL!! Botryoidal garnets. lol.

These are garnets, and here is a link to the definition of botryoidal for you:

www.gemselect.com/other-info/botryoidal-gems.php

The geologist I showed these too also agreed they were botryoidal garnets.

You remind me of this idiot we have in the gem club who likes to argue over anything anyone says.  Last month the club was out collecting rocks and I found some druzy and handed it to one of the club members.  This guy immediately started arguing that it was not drusy but rather tiny crystals of copper and zinc.  Regardless of what they may or may not have been the definition of drusy is tiny crystals:

www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,6,44327,44583

Druzy is not a particular type of stone but rather refers to a growth pattern, just like botryoidal does not refer to a particular type of stone but also rather a growth pattern.

Have you presented your Botryoidal Garnets to Mindat for discussion or ID. I would be interested in what they have to say. I find nothing like that in my mineral books. I am not disputing you just asking for clarification. Don