The light and bright orange-yellow stones come from Nigeria and Ramona (CA). The deeper reddish orange stones also come from Nigeria. The fabulous tangerine orange “mandarin” garnets come from Namibia.
The 3 important sources of spessartite garnets are Nigeria, Namibia, and The Little Three Min at Ramon, California, USA. Most sources produce clean spessartites except from Namibia, which often contain inclusions that give the stones sleepy appearance.
Most spessartites are in ovals, cushions, trillions and emerald cuts. Cabochon cuts are seen occasionally, more with the Namibians, which tend to be heavily included.
From left to right, the sleepy mandarin garnet from Namibia, the bright orange-yellow spessartites from Nigeria and Ramona, CA.
Image credit: Wimon Manorotkul
Spessartite can range from pale yellowish orange through bright orange to dark brownish red. The best color is “aurora red” – highly saturated slightly reddish orange in medium to medium-dark tone. This color is often referred to as mandarin orange in the trade.
Very dark or very light tone is less valuable. Large fine quality stones are priced high because while new finds made these orange gems more available, fine quality above 5 carats remain rare.
Here’s a few generalizations on the price of spessartites from palagems.com:
- Nigerian spessartites typically retail for $100–250 per carat (1 – 4 carat range). Stones of 15–20 carats may reach as much as $900 per carat at the retail level.
- Prices for the rare mandarin spessartites from Namibia are even higher, with smaller goods (1–2 carats) fetching up to $800 per carat. Fine stones above 5 carats extend well above $1000 per carat. A large fine fine mandarin garnet was said to be priced for retail at $2400 per carat.
Here is a sample of Nigerian spessartite garnets with the most expensive red-oranges at the right.
Image credit: Wimon Manorotkul
New sources of spessartite made it available for use as an alternative to other strongly colored gems.
Jem Boxx 