Orange Garnet

Orange Garnet gemstones in our store belong to a variety called Spessartite or Spessartine in the UK. The name comes from Spessart area in Bavaria, where it was first found. Prior to 1990 orange garnets were almost unknown to the public. Only USA was supplying small quantities for the collectors market. Starting from 1991 a couple of significant deposits were found in Africa and spessartines became available to the wider public.

Sometimes sold as “mandarin garnet” or even “fanta garnet” this gem gained market position, thanks to the extreme bright and vivid orange colour that virtually no other gemstone can compete with. Just as other garnets, spessartine often has a percentage of other garnet molecules in its structure and that, gives it a range of possible colour variations. There are pure orange or even yellow garnets available. However when more almadine molecules are present it becomes red or even brown. The range of possible colours is huge.