Spessartine with Smoky Quartz

The spessartine mines of Tongbei are renowned for attractive combination specimens such as this one, featuring orange spessartine garnet adorning dramatic smoky quartz crystals. This cabinet-sized piece features approximately a dozen smoky quartz crystals tapering to perfect points on a feldspar matrix. The entire piece is then studded with scores of bright, cinnamon-orange spessartine garnet crystals, providing beautiful contrast and composition for this well-balanced piece.

These combination specimens once came out in abundance from Tongbei. However, production has slowed to a trickle in recent years, and many of the mines in the region have shut down with only sparse production. These spessartine–quartz combinations are some of the most attractive and display-worthy specimens to come out of China in recent memory.