This is a great lot of various types of Garnets that probably originated in Africa. There is a broad spectrum of Reds and shades of Red in this lot, most of which are very appealing and stretch from a vivid pinkish red to an almost purplish red. I would say that roughly 70% of this is high grade facet rough while the rest is medium to top grade cabbing material and/ or material that needs to be cobbed clean. Many of the stone in here look to be alluvial in nature and resemble Malaya Garnet while others have been tumbled and resemble Rhodolite Garnet. There is the occasional orangey tinted stone that may actually be Zircon but no guarantees.

This was originally purchased in Karachi, Pakistan and I'm confident that it is African in origin but I'm not 100% sure (I doubt it is from Pakistan or Afghanistan because of the alluvial shape of the stones). This was purchased as a closeout lot from a cutting factory. I tried to take out the tiny stuff as well as anything that didn't look like it fell within the Garnet group, however, I may have missed a few stones.

1. There has been a very limited amount of Garnet that has been produced in Afghanistan and it is rarely facet grade.

2. This has not yet been tested and as a result we can't certify the type of Garnet it is.