Description
Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (Northern Areas), Pakistan
A gem and complex spessartite garnet has formed with other garnets and an aquamarine crystal. The garnet has a reticulated form with stacked rhombododecahedrons forming a 3D relief on each crystal face. Strong lighting reveals this to be transparent in a deep reddish orange color. Smaller spessartites that form with the main crystal also have variations on this habit. Below the garnet is a small, prismatic aquamarine with a basal pinacoid termination. I did view the aquamarine termination under the microscope and it is not broken. The matrix is composed of muscovite mica booklets and blocky white orthoclase crystals. There is a micro dusting of a yellow mineral that I think adds nice detail to the piece. The piece is undamaged but one of the smaller garnets appears to have had pocket damage and recrystallization. I viewed this also under the microscope and it is not broken, but incomplete.
6.80 x 5.60 x 4.00 cm
