Image credit: John J Bradshaw
Hessonite is a variety of the grossularite species family. Hessonite’s color ranges from orange to cinnamon, and it tends to have a brownish hue. Sometimes referred to as the “cinnamon stone.” Very light orange ones is sometimes called champagne garnet.
The best colors come in medium to dark tones.
Hessonite does not have much presence in the jewelry market because it is too included with crystals to be used as a jewelry. Under the microscope, the recognizable “heat wave” or “scotch-in-water” effect that’s characteristics of hessonite can often be seen (see below picture).
Image credit; Tino Hammid
Originally from Ceylon/Sri Lanka, it is still the largest producer of fine quality hessonite. Mexico also produces good quality strong orange color hessonite. A good quality eye clean hessonite can fetch USD20 – 50 per carat.
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