Garnets have been known to man for over five thousand years. The spessartite garnet is the new kid on the block, only having been discovered during the 1800’s in Spessart, Bavaria.
Until recent years spessartite garnet was not a gemstone that was well known except to gem collectors, and the price was prohibitive.
In 1991 there was a deposit found in Namibia, a southern African country which borders Angola, and just before the year 2000 there was another very abundant find in Nigeria. These two finds have made this gemstone more readily available to all, and at a much more modest prices, but that may not last.
Until recent years spessartite garnet was not a gemstone that was well known except to gem collectors, and the price was prohibitive.
The Namibia discovery, although it produced beautiful gemstones, was not long lived.
Spessartite is a reasonably hard gemstone and is usually favored by an oval or emerald cut. Garnets come in green, red, purple, pink, and the distinctive colors of the spessartite garnet. The spessartite garnet is unique in it’s orange to red-orange coloration, especially the mandarine spessartite garnet which is a vivid orange.