Awesome lot of an Insane VIBRANT Ruby Red to Cherry Red colored Garnet from Kashmir, Pakistan & Kunar, Afghanistan. This is just a breath taking lot and you are unlikely to run into additional rough in the future as it is produced VERY sporadically! The bulk of the material is from Pakistan while a few of the stones in the parcel are Afghani in origin. The Afghan material is generally the material with the Matte Finish on the terminations whereas the Pakistani Material tends to have the polished faces. This is the legendary material that is referred to as "Kashmirine" and was written about previously in Gems & Gemology. From our understanding the mines in Kashmir are depleted and we don't know how we came across this material as there really isn't any in the local markets nor has there been for years other than 1 Person we ran into that was charging an outrageous price for a handful of larger stones.

This material was sold to us as Spessartite and we are 99.99999% sure that it is due to the unusual striations that occur on Spessartite Crystals and not other species of the Garnet Family. Overall the material is mostly TOP Facet Grade with the bulk of the stone easily capable of producing Eye-Clean or better finished gemstones. There are some exceptional crystals in here with the most profound luster and the material will undoubtedly cut spectacular Gems. Please note that this material is not to be confused with our Spess/Hess Garnet that comes from Afghanistan. Kashmiri Garnet is known around and highly sought after by Garnet Connoisseurs!! The initial find saw prices top Nigerian Mandarin Garnet for similar quality stones!!! We don't expect getting any similar material in the future so don't miss out on your chance to purchase this!

1. Kashmirine is highly sought after by collectors. The initial find in Kashmir looked very promising; however, after a few months of mining most of the material dried up and it is rarely seen in the market.