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LOCATION: the full locality information for this deposit is near the town of Loliondo, close to Serengeti National Park and 7 km from the Kenyan border, W-NW of the north end of Lake Natron. It is closed to heavy traffic and on Maasai tribal lands. I think the pictures state the obvious - these are shockingly large, faceted-looking "jewels" from nature that happen to be gemmy spessartine garnets of unprecedented size and quality. These have quietly been emerging from a small prospect in remote Tanzania and hoarded for sale at the Tucson show. I was tipped off by a gem dealer who was buying it up for cutting and faceting! Out of a large quantity mined, most are representative garnets by worldwide standards, or "almost killers" marred by too many internal dark veils and inclusions. Perhaps 1 in 100 is fully formed and translucent, colored an even orange to orange-red color. For the top specimens as shown here, the only comparables that can be even be thought to compete in this game are from two small and historic finds : a few , perhaps under half a dozen, major specimens from the Little 3 Mine in San Diego (and these although large and colorful aren't as sharply formed); or the small floater gem crystals found in Marienfluss Namibia in the early 1980s (though they had not the color saturation and size of the pieces shown here). These garnets are so shocking in their 3-dimensionality, color, and translucency that I believe they simply redefine what you can expect in a garnet crystal specimen. In other words, to my way of thinking, this is not just another "locality garnet", rather these define the standard now to which other garnet crystals from other localities should themselves be seen to measure up to. I made a quick trip ahead to Tucson before the show to negotiate and buy up the largest lot of this material to have been mined and hoarded over December and January of 2008 (sadly, the good specimens already were known to command prices relative to their weight in facet and carving rough). My understanding is that some material trickled out already at the show, though mostly of inferior quality, and the prices have already been soaring at the show and at the source as people realized what they had in hand. Note that due to the color saturation and thickness of these crystals, and slight internal inclusions that add up, the camera has a hard time conveying the depths of color and translucency you see in real life: they are MUCH better in person!
SPESS-00 - Spessartine Garnet (676 grams!) - $4000 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania small cabinet, 8 x 8 x 7 cm
A 664-gram MONSTER of a crystal, one of the biggest complete crystals we know of from the deposit. It is complete all around and nearly pristine ! It is included with fibrous garnet and some balck mineral, and has a few spots of attached red muscovite matrix attached to small parts of minor faces, but it is nevertheless overall very equant and symmetric and just plain impressive for a big crystal of garnet.
SPESS-52 - Spessartine Garnet - $2500 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania thumbnail, 2.8 x 2.7 x 2.6 cm
An outstanding 30-gram crystal that is totally complete, pristine, and sharp all around It is literally like a jewel! VERY MUCH MORE translucent and colorful in person!
SPESS-54 - Spessartine Garnet - $3750 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania thumbnail, 2.9 x 2.9 x 2.7 cm
By just a hair, but visibly a hair, this crystal has the most brilliant internal lustre of any of them, and is internally the most gemmy to boot. It is 33 grams and perfect in form and symmetry all around except for a few small contacts on one side and the bottom . As you can see, from the best display side, it looks more like a cut gem than a crystal of natural garnet. The price is admittedly high, but this little guy JUMPS out at the eye, even amidst other really great pieces! That extra gemminess and clarity inside, really has impact.
SPESS-02 - Spessartine Garnet - $17500 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania miniature, 4.5 x 4.2 x 4.2 cm
A killer doublet, a floater, complete all around and nearly pristine. The larger crystal atop is 4 x 4 x 3 cm in size and securely penetrates into the bottom crystal for a tight lock. MUCH MORE GEMMY and intensely colored in person, even. Here, in the photos, you can see into the depths of the crystal but they do not convey the full effect.
SPESS-03 - Spessartine Garnet - $12500 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania small cabinet, 6 x 5 x 4.5 cm
This 218 gram cluster is one of a VERY FEW clusters found so far, and a dramatic piece by any standard. It features crystals to 4 cm intergrown, with seams of a strange red mica mixed into the junctions. Complete floater, with terminations all around! This is one of the largest clusters, and one of the best. It is totally unprecedented for a spessartine garnet specimen, to my mind.
SPESS-04 - Spessartine Garnet - $2750 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania thumbnail, 2.4 x 2.3 x 2.3 cm
One of our best thumbnails, a SUPER SHARP, fully-terminated, carved-looking "golfball" . This is complete all around, and has intense orange color when backlit strongly. It is more gemmy/translucent in person, as well. Weight is 19 grams
SPESS-05 - Spessartine Garnet - $1950 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania miniature, 2.7 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm
A "matrixy" specimen featuring an elongated gemy spessartine about 2 cm tall and 1 cm thick perched atop a smaller crystal, backed by a bit of matrix; and with the whole piece a great toenail size in full!
SPESS-06 - Spessartine Garnet - $750 Loliondo, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania thumbnail, 2.4 x 2.4 x 2.2 cm
One of our more impactful thumbnails for the price, a SUPER SHARP, 2/3 crystal which has even more intense orange color when backlit strongly. It is more gemmy/translucent in person, as well. The piece is contacted where it grew against another crystal on the bottom but is 2.3 complete except for a slight ding in the back of the top termination (hence the low price). Some cutting rough value, I imagine. Weight is 18 grams
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