Virginia Spessartines are some of the most recognized orange Spessartines from the United States, second only to the vibrant orange Spessartines from the Ramona area of San Diego County, California. They are incredibly rare, especiallly with any verifiable provenance. This stone has a very nice, rich, reddish-orange hue (from a high Manganese content) as is often seen in crystals from this area. These Spessartines are becoming nearly impossible to obtain, and to have a 50 carat crystal of this quality from the Smithsonian makes this quite the find. ex William Larson garnet collection.