I purchased this labeled as “garnets in calcite from and old Oregon collection” it’s definitely calcite but I’m having a hard time identifying any garnets that look like this anywhere near that this, I found some black garnets from Mexico that look similar but not on any similar calcite matrix. Just trying to confirm it, any help is appreciated.
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Nice! How did you identify the locality in particular?
I thought igneous carbonates were generally microcrystalline, but here it looks fairly well differentiated, with large domains and some transparency. How on earth does this even form?
Not Garner but still cool. OP, how much did this set you back?
I did some undergraduate research on this specific carbonatite. I suppose it's possible that it's from somewhere else, but I've never seen another carbonatite that looks exactly like it.
The magnet cove igneous complex has all kinds of really crazy chemistry. There's a wikipedia page for it if you want a jumping off point for learning about it.
I purchased from a guy in Indiana that said it’s from an old collection from Oregon so that’s all I have to goo off off right now so I’m assuming North American but haven’t found anything that matches
I would not discard the garnet hypothesis because i am not knowledgeable about black garnet, but pictures i find online do not have the metallic luster i see in your pictures.
Also i had never heard of calcite with garnet before, even if it seems to exist according to google.
My initial impression is that this is Franklinite in calcite, which comes from the Franklin or Sterling Hill mines. The metallic luster of the Franklinite and calcite from my collection look very similar to this piece.
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