Spessartite

Spessartite Gemstone Quality

With a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale, Spessartite can be a wonderful gemstone for jewelry especially engagement rings, wedding rings, pendants, and charm bracelets. It retains its beauty for a longer time, so can be passed from generation to generation. In the market, the availability of good quality Spessartite is quite limited. Therefore, one must consider the following factors very carefully while purchasing a Spessartite, to eliminate any future surprises and buy the best quality Spessartite gemstone.

• Origin

  – Premium quality Spessartite Garnet rough comes from many countries including Namibia, Nigeria, Australia, Brazil, Madagascar, California, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Zambia and Tanzania. As long as the color and clarity are good, Spessartite from any origin is worth buying. Some exclusive origin varieties of Spessartite such as the Namibian Spessartite Garnet (trade name - ‘Mandarin Spessartite’), Nigerian Spessartite and Zambian Garnet (trade name - ‘Tangerine Spessartite’) often draw more attention of both the traders and the buyers with their bright luminous color and sheer good size.

• Color

  – The striking orange color of Spessartite makes it a unique member of the Garnet family. It comes in the various shades of orange ranging from warm yellow-orange to bright peachy orange and deep reddish orange. According to the gem experts, the pure, bright orange or the peachy orange Spessartite garnet (Mandarin Spessartite Garnet) are considered most desirable and quite valuable.

• Clarity

  – Being a Type II clarity stone, Spessartite gemstones are likely to have minor inclusions that may be visible from the naked eyes. Feathers, colourless fibres of tirodit and 2-phase liquid inclusions, rutile needles are some common type of natural inclusions found inside Spessartite crystals. Eye clean Spessartite gemstones can be found but they are exceedingly rare and hold in high regard.

• Cut

  – A skilful cutting style not just accentuates the innate beauty and brilliance of the Spessartite Garnet gemstone but also hides the inclusions cleverly in the facets. Spessartite raw stones with good transparency are mostly cut in oval, round, cushion, trillion and emerald cut whereas the highly included raw stones are often shaped into some beautiful round and oval Spessartite cabochons (non-faceted, polished gems).