HI Dash, I have been to the Royston mine and filmed Dean Otteson (now deceased). I have indeed seen some medium to deep blue colors (as well as the green) and watched Dean polishing the stones. The stone was very hard and didn't require stabilization. I obviously can't determine the specific stone you are speaking about, but it would be easy to have a testing lab determine if it has been stabilized. Not sure where you are located, but the New Mexico School of mines do testing for a pretty reasonable price.

That is a spectacular question. It is impossible to answer that question without further testing. That being said, I have seen some hessonite stones that were very red, but I always felt there was still a little bit of orange in that red. The deepest ruby red color I have ever seen in a garnet is undeniably the pyrope. The truth is, either could be true. Mother nature does some mysterious things. If the trace elements were very heavy in chrome in one area it could make a calcium garnet deep red in color. Skarns tend to be rich in calcium-magnesium-iron-manganese-aluminum silicate minerals. It is possible to have a calcium or aluminum garnet. You never know. Heck, I have even seen a red garnet that grew inside of a diamond! The bottom line? Sounds like you have a great specimen there. It is a keeper!

Hi Jennifer, glad you liked the episode. First of all, the first rule of the GIA (gemological institute of America) is to never make a sight identification. In other words, don't try to determine the variety by a photo or even seeing it in person. There are two possible solutions. First, you can go to a gem show. I go to the Tucson gem show every year. There are other gem shows all o=over the USA and many other countries. They usually have vendors that will evaluate your gemstone or rough. Of course, they will charge for that. Second, you can perform a battery of tests on your own. You will notice that every gem has physical and optical properties that are unique to that gem. For example, the grossular garnet has a refractive index of 1.72-1.8. You can get a refractometer to do that test. It also has a specific gravity of 3.4 to 3.71. You can use heavy liquids to determine the specific gravity of most gems that way. I hope you find this useful, and I definitely share your love of garnets

Thank you so much 💞

I saw an article the same stone was checked already in China University because of the similarities of DUSHAN JADE..and the the findings TREMOLITIZED DIOPSIDE ANORTHOSITE The green color was caused by UVAROVITE in different form Now it's more confusing😆😆