GARNET SPESSARTITE

The Spessartite Garnet is an orange to reddish-brown gemstone that belongs to the large and varied species of garnet gems. The name “spessartine” comes from the Bavarian word “Spessart”, which means “forest”, which is a mountain range in Germany where deposits of spessartite garnet were found in the 1880s. Spessartite is found in various parts of the world including Nigeria, Brazil, Madagascar, Burma (Myanmar), China, Kenya, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and Tanzania .

The Spessartite Garnet is known for its vibrant shades of orange to reddish-orange . It is a type of garnet, specifically an aluminum and manganese silicate. It has a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale making it durable for jewelry. It typically has some minor visible inclusions; eye-clean stones are quite rare .

Spessartite garnet can be distinguished from other types of gems by its appearance in metamorphic rocks, its hardness, color, refractive index and cubic crystal structure .

The Spessartite Garnet is a popular gemstone in jewelry. It is usually cut into traditional shapes such as octagon or oval to maximize color. It can also be cut into other shapes such as pear or heart. Spessartite is commonly used in rings, earrings and necklaces .