Lot of Mandarin Garnet from Nigeria with the most spectacular Pure Orange color. These are nice chunky water worn nodules with a bright Mandarin Orange color. All of these stones have some inclusions with the bulk being moderately to heavily included; however, these are premium sized pieces with the average weight being about 7 carats and a few of these stones have very gemmy sections. These inclusions are typical for this Garnet species and it is extremely rare to find clean or even slightly included Mandarin Garnets in this size range. The bulk of this is probably more suitable for Cabbing rough from our opinion due to the inclusions; however, this material was sold to us as Facet Grade and it is commonly marketed as Facet Grade because of inclusions inherent in the species and the Mandarin Nuts out there. Most finished stones will be slightly included to heavily included and should cut fairly large sized finished gemstones if cut for yield. There are a few cleaner stones in here that will cut very slightly to slightly included with proper orientation and sawing or better; however, there will probably be above average weight loss. This is probably the lowest we have done this material and that is largely due to a new supply that has come in at a more competitive price!

1. Nigerian and Namibian Mandarin Garnet deposits are fast being depleted with most of the earlier larger material gone already. Initial finds were alluvial in nature and as those sources are depleted more work will be required to unearth these treasures at the primary deposits. This in the end will boil down to higher prices and sporadic production.