Also sometimes known as spessartite, spessartine is one of six fundamental sub-species of garnet. It has come to prominence as a gemstone over the last few decades, primarily as a result of the bright orange hues that arise from the mineral’s inherent manganese content. However, many specimens are hybrids that also contain significant amounts of iron-colored almandine, and such stones are likely to appear reddish-orange, orangish-red or even completely red.

Spessartine is named after the Bavarian region of Spessart, from where it was initially identified during the first-half of the nineteenth century. However, it wasn’t until the discovery of a major northwestern Namibian deposit in 1991 that spessartine emerged as a major commercial gemstone under the trade name of “mandarin garnet”. Although this original African deposit has now been largely depleted, gem-quality material has since been found elsewhere on the continent within Nigeria and Tanzania.