Tongbei, Fujian Prov., China
10 cm tall x 12.7 cm wide
These sharp and brilliant spessartine trapezohedrons with smoky quartz began appearing on the market in early 2000. The Tongbei region is now quite well known as producing some of the finest examples for this combination of species. The gem clear smoky quartz sits at the center of a carpet of gem spessartine garnets. The matrix is actually made up of two generations of spessartine. The earlier generation cover the matrix like a solid glassy coating and have a lighter color, while the later generation is sprinkled around, nicely separated, and of a rich orange color. They continue to grow up along the side faces of the smoky quartz, and are included within the quartz.