- MADGARN-40
- Andradite Var. Demantoid Garnet
- Antetezambato, Ambanja District, Diana Region, Antsiranana Province, Madagascar
- Small Cabinet, 9.0 x 6.0 x 3.8 cm
- SOLD
This is a solid plate of glassy crystals with INTENSE color! Most garnets from here do not form in such tight carpets of fine crystals. They tend to be more dispersed across the matrix. Some people like isolated crystals, and others like "flash" and density, which is exemplified in this specimen. The glassy luster combined with strong color pretty much blow away most other demantoid specimens from other locales, and it ranks high for this locality as well. The massive garnet matrix is slightly concave, and is completely smothered by these briliantly glssy crystals of demantoid, to 1.2 cm across. A few crystals are doubly terminated; and a few also exhibit clear evidence of hopper growth, a rarity in the garnet family of minerals. Overall this is one of the most densely covered and flashiest specimens I have been able to obtain from the finds here.