Spessartine Garnets from Virginia are some of the most recognized Spessartines from the United States, second only to the vibrant orange ones from the Little Three Mine in California. They are incredibly rare, especially with any verifiable provenance, and many date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. This piece is a cluster of nice, slightly etched, rich red crystals to 2 cm. There are six, maybe seven, crystals that make up this elongate cluster and they all display faint, stacked, diamond-shaped growth features on their faces probably from the trapezohedral crystal form. A little backlighting reveals their translucency and the rich, wine-red color. These Spessartines are becoming nearly impossible to obtain! This is from the private garnet collection of dealer and collector Bill Larson of Fallbrook, built over 60 years, and comes with his label.