HPJ REFERENCE POINT: EXTREMELY RARE BIG 6.60 CARAT VS IN SOUTH AFRICA

  Reference Point OUTSTANDING BIG 6.60 CARAT VS    AFRICAN SPESSARTINE GARNET       TECHNICAL DATA: Weight: 6.60 Carats Clarity: VS Dimensions: 11.50 x 10.30 x 5.90mm Origin: North Western Namibia Treatments: None     Spessartite/Spessartine has been known to the world for less than 200 years. The garnet was discovered in the mid 1800s in Spessart, Bavaria, and soon afterward in the Rutherford Mines in Virginia. In the 20th century, it has been mined in Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Brazil, Australia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia, and Pakistan, often mixed with other gems. Because production has been so unreliable, the stone was never mass marketed.     While many deposits are older, it was the discoveries in Namibia that sparked this gemstones reputation for beauty. Those garnets were first found in 1991, where the Kunene River flows along the mountainous Angolan border in North Western Namibia. Embedded in mica in a schist, the spessartite was perfect. The main known deposits are 1,500km from the capital Windhoek. There are no roads and the terrain is so difficult that very often it cannot even be mastered by four-wheel drive !