The green to blue-green variety of Andradite Garnet known as “Demantoid” derives its name from the similarity to the high brilliance of Diamond. Some of the most notable and renowned localities for “Demantoid” are the Jeffrey Quarry in Canada, the famous Val Malenco in Italy, the Tubussis farm in Namibia, and the Korkodinskoe deposit in Russia which is best known for producing the finest facet grade material in the world.

In 2009 some of the finest and most impressive Andradite (var: “Demantoid” and “Topazolite”) crystals were discovered completely by accident in a relatively small mangrove field at Antetezambato, which is on the far north-northwestern coast of Madagascar (on the western side of Ambaro Bay), about 350 km northeast of the major and historic town and port of Mahajanga. The collecting was done completely by hand by thousands of locals in hundreds of small vertical holes which flood daily when the high tide rushes in the evening. The collecting “window” is relatively short every day and the miners have to scramble to evacuate their respective digging holes before the impending tide reaches them.

The mineralogy at this deposit is fairly simplistic, and only a few species have been found (Andradite, Quartz and rarely seen Stilbite !) so far. Most of the Andradite crystals formed on a metamorphosed sedimentary rock (caused by intrustions of cross cutting lamprofiric dikes) which created seams or fractures in the rock, allowing room for the Andradites to crystallize. Many of the matrix for these specimens is actually microcrystallized Andradite, from a soft yellow-green color to nearly white.

The two predominant habits observed for the Andradite are dodecahedron and trapezohedron with a wide range of color from a rich amber brown shade to a golden-yellow color, to a yellow-green, a “chrome” green hue and some crystals even show a slight blue-green overtone! Some of the crystals are absolutely WATER-CLEAR, although they are typically in the 5-6 mm range.

I personally hand selected all of these specimens from my good friend and expert in the minerals of Madagascar, Dr. Federico Pezzotta, who was responsible facilitating the valuation and legal export of most of this material in person in Madagascar.

I am very proud to be offering a large selection of very fairly priced (some specimens we saw in Tucson were priced over $10,000), attractive display specimens, of this exciting new material. This is a great opportunity to obtain superb quality specimens while they are still fresh out of the ground. I am told that this locality may not produce any more specimens in the future, and these pieces would make a great addition to any collection.

Lastly, it must be noted that these crystals show a SHIFT IN COLOR depending upon the different kind of light under which they are viewed. Fluorescent lighting shows the best color typically, while halogen lights are not as flattering, and most incandescent lighting is usually in the middle. We have found that the best GREEN color is usually seen under compact fluorescent mercury-bearing bulbs.

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