Show me your non-African Spess

[Wyntery]

I've only just learnt that spess is/was found in the States (Little Three Mine and Hercules Mine), Brazil (Paraiba state) and Madagascar. I'd love to see some non-African spess. Does anyone have some photos they could share?

 

[movie zombie]

http://thegemtrader.com/Jan12CASpessPage.htm

my .69 carat:

 

[Wyntery]

Hi Movie Zombie,

Is yours also from the Little Three Mine?

 

[movie zombie]

yes.
the really "good stuff" was mined long ago. some cutters have some old rough. but I haven't seen anything to equal what I saw in san diego at a balboa park exhibit 2-3 years ago. amazing world class stones.......mine is NOT one of those.
I believe that the gem trader's stone is superior to mine.....and still not of the quality that was of yore.

you might also be interesting to read about the history of pink tourmaline mined out of san diego county. the empress of china loved the stuff. again, I've got a piece or two which is no where near the quality of what I saw in san diego at the balboa park exhibit.

but they are California stones and being i'm a California native I like having them. I also have a few small benitoites for the same reason.

 

[Wyntery]

The history of gems really interests me and I'd like to find out more. Can you recommend a good resource for me to learn from?

ETA in addition to the wealth of knowledge I've found in this forum already!

 

[Silverbackmp]

Delete. I shouldn't read these message boards while multitasking...thought Sphene was mentioned.

 

[cm366]

Hi Wyntery!

These aren't my photos, they're by a guy named Jeff Hapeman who's trying to sell the rough pictured (or, presumably, would be willing to cut them). They're from the Little Three mine and I understand they have unusually rich colour for the location. I've never seen nice spess from Brazil, though, only dark stuff that looked like almandine garnet - I'd love to see some if anyone has pics!

 

[Xrisus]

Here is my 0.94ct round spess from the Little Three Mine, please excuse the iPhone pictures.

 

[Wyntery]

Wow Xrisus! That is beautiful. What are the specs?

 

[Xrisus]

It's a 5.4mm round (4mm in depth). There are fine inclusions in it, but the stone is fairly eye clean. I like the color, it's darker than my Namibian spessartite, but I like that it has its own unique character.

 

[alice87]

Nice rich orange! is it difficult to find spessartite?

 

[chrono]

Nice rich orange! is it difficult to find spessartite?

Spessartite that isn't mined in Africa or spessartite from any location? If the first, yes, it is difficult. If the second, no, it isn't difficult.