Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?
Below are some preliminary notes I have made about Almandine. This entry and thread has been made as a place holder for information that you will hopefully contribute about Almandine. It should be in no way be thought of as a claim I have staked out to write about this mineral, and in fact is an invitation for someone to step forward and create the article about this mineral. If you are so inclined and have questions about the format that such an article should have, go the The welcome topic at the top of the Best Minerals forum and read what has been posted there. Also take a look at some of the more mature articles that have already been written like Rhodochrosite, Adamite, Millerite etc. You will need also to pick out other images of Almandine that will go into the article.
Almandine
Fe3+2Al2(SiO4)3 Cubic
Almandine Display collections.
Fe32+Al2(SiO4)3
Almandine garnets are found in a great many places in the world. At many localities they are found not as free standing crystals in pockets, but enclosed in schist or other host rock and need to be worked out of the rock to best display the crystals. Garnets are usually not pure end members but share common metallic elements in their structure like iron and manganese. Almandine is an iron rich garnet. Usually the darker red the crystal the more iron it has in it, the more orange the color, the more manganese the garnet contains. If enough manganese is present the mineral is called spessartine which is the manganese end member of the garnet family. Most of the garnets from northern Pakistan have more iron than manganese in them so they should probably be called almandine rather than spessartine, but since spessartine is a sexier name and spessartine garnets usually sell for more money than plain old almandine, many dealers will call them spessartine rather than almandine. It is like jewelers insisting that man made pearls be called cultured pearls or calling faceted stones of smoky quartz, smoky topaz. You always try and trade on the more valuable name. Some of the almandine specimens pictured here are not particularly great specimens, though most are exceptional for their locality. Dark red garnets have been used in jewelry for centuries. Most of these dark red garnets are almandine. Many of them come from India and other localities, but are rarely found in well formed crystals. Broken chunks of gem rough is the norm. In your hand they look like little chunks of reddish black glass.
Almandine
Australia
New South Wales, Broken Hill, Thakaringa. Reddish brown almandine crystals up to about 15 cm. Dull in appearance and do not grow freestanding in pockets. An Australian friend and mineral dealer says “they are bloody rough looking.” Specimens from there are fairly common. You could get a good one of these for less than $50 but you are not likely to find any for sale in the United States because there is not enough demand for them here to make it worthwhile to export them.
Almandine
Brazil
Minas Gerais. No locality other than Minas Gerais was given for this attractive specimen of these nearly black almandines of almost 3 cm growing on matrix. These crystals were worked out of the rock to make them appear to be freestanding and it is likely that one or more of them were glued back on the rock. The locality may even be from Paraiba listed below. Many gems and minerals are brought from other Brazilian states to Governador Valadares and other towns in Minas Gerais for sale. The reason being that Minas Gerais is where most of the foreign buyers go to look for gems and minerals to buy. Frequently when you ask where something comes from the answer is simply Minas Gerais even though it may be from another Brazilian state entirely.
Almandine
Paraiba. From 9 km south of Pedra Lavrada near Serrote Redondo are found quartz-feldspar nodules that when split open show well formed black almandines to about 3 cm. They have a touch of translucent red and brown about them.
Almandine
England
Cornwall, St. Just. Shiny black crystals up to about a centimeter. An old locality and one that probably was not very productive of good specimens when it was working.
Almandine
Japan
Hitachi Province, Yamono. At a pegmatite near Yamono, “well defined individual crystals” of almandine are found. Can someone can tell me what they look like?
Almandine
Pakistan
HGilgit Division, Dusso & Shingus. From pegmatites near Dusso and Shingus, translucent well formed dark reddish-brown almandines up to 5 cm across are found growing on white albite and microcline. Some are associated with black tourmaline crystals. These are found as freestanding crystals and are some of the best almandine crystals known. The best of these specimens can cost several thousand dollars, and even modest specimens bring more than $100 each.
Almandine
Russia
Achmatovsk. Shiny well-formed black red crystals up to about 3 cm on a garnet matrix have been found at Achmatovsk. The specimen shown here was an old specimen in the British Museum of Natural History. On my two trips to Russia I saw no specimens from this locality or at least none that made any impression. Many localities produce few specimens but even if they produce abundantly, 100 years later it seems like they are rare indeed. When you rarely ever see specimens from a specific locality in collections you make the assumption that they were not abundantly produced and this is not necessarily the case.
Almandine
Switzerland
Zermatt. This specimen of almandine growing on diopside?. Not a wonderful specimen, but it makes you think that fine specimens must have come from this locality.
Almandine
United States
Alaska, Wrangell Island. Perhaps the best known of all almandine localities is the one on Wrangell Island. Here the garnets occur in mica schist as lustrous well formed crystals up to about 4 cm. They are not transparent, but they often have glints of deep red subtransparency that have long made them a favorite of collectors and museums. Specimens of almandine from this locality have been produced for over a hundred years and because of this continuous production they are not expensive. Each year, when the weather permits, more specimens are dug. Currently the locality belongs to the Boy Scouts of America and they often dig specimens to support troop activities. Good specimens of these garnets can be seen in collections all over the world. These specimens have become classics but are so ubiquitous that many collectors would not put a specimen in their collection any more than they would a Brazilian amethyst. These almandines are probably not the best ones in the world, but they are usually the ones that first pop to mind. You should be able to get a decent specimen from this locality for less than $100.
Almandine
California, Riverside County, Lakeview Mountains, Nuevo. Good specimens from this locality were never abundant but any collector of California would love to have the specimen pictured here. Drool over this well formed black-red trapozohedron on matrix that was in the collection of Jack Rodekohr. (One of the founding members of the Mineralogical Society of Southern California). His collection was bought and dispersed by Sharon and Gene Cisneros of the Mineral Research Company.
Almandine
Colorado, Chaffee County, Ruby Mountain. Small well formed black-red almandine crystals are found in vesicles in the igneous rock of the mountain. The crystals rarely measure more than a cm in diameter and are found mostly isolated in small vugs in the rock. The occurrence is very similar to the one at Garnet Hill in Nevada.
Almandine
Colorado, Chaffee County, Salida, Sedalia Mine. “Large green-coated dodecahedrons to 6” and 14 pounds in weight from chlorite schist.”1 They are rather rough looking, and hardly anyone cares.
1 Mineralogy for Amateurs, Sinkankas p535.
Almandine
Connecticut, Roxbury. Fine dodecahedral crystals to 8 cm partly altered to chlorite. Nice crystals but not likely to pluck the heart strings of your average collector.
Almandine
Idaho, Benewah County, St. Joe National Forest, Fernwood, Emerald Creek. At Emerald Creek, crystals of almandine are found weathering out of the schist and in the alluvium. The crystals are almost black, but frequently well formed and up to 10 cm. The almandine from this locality is frequently asterated and cut stones frequently display four and six-rayed stars. In 1958 an extraordinary specimen was encountered which was fashioned into a sphere 14 cm in circumference and which exhibits an 18 ray star.1 “Excellent crystals of almandine can be found on several tributaries of Emerald Creek, west of Clarkia. The locality is very popular for the gem quality crystals that commonly produce asterated cabochons. Collecting is permitted during the summer months on National Forest land by permit only. Collecting is done by digging in the stream deposits of the creeks of Trail 281, PeeWee, Garnet, and No Name Gulches. The gravels can be washed and screed to collect the garnets. Collecting is sometimes permitted for a fee on leased land down stream Most of the garnets occur as sand size crystals or larger crystals and fragments up to more than 2 cm across. Euhedral crystals are common…These are mostly modified dodecahedrons with intensely striated faces, many of them with a rounded form, and trapezohedrens are common. Their color is reddish purple to dark purplish black. They show little rounding and abrasion from stream transport.”2
1 Mineralogical Record, Vol. 11, 1980, p57. 2 Lanny R. Ream, Idaho Minerals, 1989, p. 102.
Almandine
Idaho, Lemhi County produces some nice little specimens of almandine in a fine grained schist that look like little black-red raspberries up to about a cm in size. These need to be worked out of the schist to make the most presentable specimens. Most can be worked out with hand tools, but an air abrasive tool is just the thing if you want to really detail out the crystals and show them to their best advantage.
Almandine
Idaho, Shoshone County, near Larkin Peak. Lost locality. A well formed lustrous 3.5 inch crystal was picked up along side a road in the road fill near Larkin Peak by Art Soregaroli. He searched in vain for more, even small ones without any luck. He even went so far at to go to the highway department and ask them where the road building rock came from for that part of the road. They looked at him like he had two heads.
Almandine
Nevada, White Pine County, Ely, Garnet Hill. 6.5 km northwest of Ely. “Beautiful, trapezohedral almandine- garnets, some of gem quality, occur in vessicles in rhyolite at Garnet Hill in east-central Nevada. These crystals are shiny and well formed but almost black, freestanding and usually occur as isolated crystals in vugs.” The crystals get as large as 15 mm. The locality is on public land and has been set aside for people who want to use hand tools to dig specimens. If you are willing to do a lot of heavy work like the people do who dig “Herkimer diamonds” quartz crystals, you can find some very nice things.
Almandine
Massachusetts, Russell. Fine blackish-red well-formed crystals to about 5 cm. Look at the specimen shown here, which was in the collection of Ernest Weidhaus, and eat your heart out! Any New England classic fiend would jump around and do foolish things to get a specimen like this. “Kunz noted of $1000 worth of garnets were found in 1885 (See Gems and Precious Stones of North America). At least one specimen from the Bement collection which was described as crystals in interpenetration (one interpenetration of two crystals very interesting) and measuring 4½ inches was obtained in 1888 from Foote for $12. A private collector has a 2-inch crystal on white feldspar which exhibits a nearly perfect form and certainly ranks as one of the best. The Berkshire Museum has a 2½ inch crystal.1 An analysis of a specimen from Russell gave FeO=64.43, MnO=28.90, MgO=1.04, Fe2O3=4.67, CaO=0.96 Total 100%1. The analysis confirms that the material tested is indeed, by current standards, an almandine garnet. A thousand dollars back in 1888 was the equivalent today of at least $20,000 and probably more. The specimen that Bement paid $12 was certainly the best or nearly the best and most costly specimen the locality produced and certainly the mine run material was much inferior. If we imagine the average specimen selling for $.50 at the time, that would mean that the locality probably produced at least two thousand specimens. After more than 100 years only a few of the good ones have survived. The rest have been thrown out because their heirs didn’t want to fool around with those dirty old rocks that grandpa was always fooling around with.
1. Bill Shelton, Mineral News, Vol. 20, No.4, April 2004.
Almandine
New Jersey, Sussex County, Franklin. Some respectable almandine crystals have been found at this classic old locality. Some of them get as large as 5 cm in size and often grow in calcite like the specimens shown here. Doesn’t anything here come in free standing crystals? Not much!
Almandine
New York, Manhattan, 65th & Broadway. “Ve find garnets in da subveys” said an old time NY gem dealer in a disparaging remark about how common and undesirable garnets were. He was not kidding about finding garnets in the subways and other excavations in the city. This attractive specimen of feldspar? and black shiny almandine crystals was collected in 1888 and is pictured in Manchester’s, Minerals of New York City and Environs. The largest crystals found were probably not much more than 3 cm across but any collector would love to have this specimen from the heart of the Big Apple. Some fanatic would certainly pay more than a thousand dollars for this piece, especially since it is pictured in a well known book.
Almandine
New York, Warren County, Barton Garnet Mine. Crystals up to a meter in diameter have been found at this mine. The garnets from here were used for industrial purposes like making sand paper. Oh! You want terminations on these crystals? Never mind!
Almandine
North Carolina, Spruce Pine. Some pleasant almandine specimens have been found with brownish crystals up to a little over 3 cm. The specimen here is a feldspar matrix with a number of garnets on it with a little muscovite thrown in for good measure.
Almandine
Pennsylvania, Lepierville. The big crystal on the specimen shown here is more than 3 cm in diameter. These crystals were obviously not free standing and the quality of the specimen had a lot to do with a skillful collector who lovingly removed the extra matrix. Its strange how age and scarcity alone can make something desirable. If this specimen were from an abundant locality like Wrangell, Alaska it would not be of much interest to collectors.
Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2009 10:36AM by Rock Currier.
were found here, and abundant golfball size dodecahedra, purplish pink to dark red and fairly well formed but with rough faces, have weathered from the mica schist. Sabina(1971) "
