Uvarovite

Hardness of 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale, vibrant emerald-green color, vitreous to adamantine luster, crystal structure is isometric (dodecahedron or trapezohedron), specific gravity is roughly 3.77.

Formed in chromium-rich metamorphic environments, commonly associated with serpentinites or skarns where hydrothermal fluids interact with chromite-bearing rocks.

Primarily used as a rare and sought-after collector's mineral specimen, occasionally cut into small gemstones when crystal druzy allows.

Named after Count Sergei Semenovich Uvarov, a Russian statesman and amateur mineralogist. It is the only consistently green garnet species that is colored by chromium rather than vanadium or iron.

Easily identified by its distinctive brilliant green crystal druzy coating on a dark matrix. Notable localities include the Saranovskoye mine in the Ural Mountains of Russia, as well as occurrences in Finland, Turkey, and California, USA.