Chrome Spessartine

Chrome Spessartine is a rare variety of spessartine garnet — the manganese-aluminum member of the garnet group — that contains traces of chromium. Spessartine is naturally a vivid orange to orange-red (its fine "mandarin" form is among the most saturated of all garnets), and the chromium content can deepen and enrich that color.

Because chromium and manganese rarely occur together in significant amounts in the same garnet, chrome spessartine is uncommon and of particular interest to gem researchers and collectors.

Most material comes as small, brilliant stones with strong orange fire.

Spessartine typically forms in granite pegmatites and in manganese-rich metamorphic rocks and skarns, where manganese is concentrated. It also occurs in some rhyolites.

For chromium to enter the structure, the geological environment must supply both manganese and chromium — an unusual combination, since chromium is more typical of mafic and ultramafic settings. Where these conditions overlap, the resulting chrome spessartine crystallizes with its enhanced orange color. Notable spessartine sources include Namibia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Brazil.

Chrome Spessartine is a transparent, vivid orange to orange-red stone with bright vitreous luster and strong brilliance.

• Hardness: 6.5-7.5.
• Streak: white.
• Optic character: singly refractive.
• Fracture: conchoidal, no cleavage.
• Density: high (spessartine is dense).

Chromium may produce subtle absorption features detectable with a spectroscope. The intense orange and high density help separate it from orange sapphire and citrine; single refraction rules out doubly refractive look-alikes.

Chrome Spessartine is faceted into vivid orange collector and jewelry gems, prized for color saturation and brilliance. Fine, clean stones can command strong prices, especially given the rarity of the chrome-bearing variety.

It is durable enough for most jewelry with care. As a garnet, it carries metaphysical associations of energy, creativity, and vitality, though these are not scientific claims.