Description
What’s a Merelani Mint garnet? It’s basically a light green grossular garnet, not dark enough green to be called a Tsavorite. The coloring comes from vanadium. The name comes from the Merelani region of Tanzania, although those light green garnets are also found in nearby Kenya. Grossular garnet has a relatively high refractive index which helps the gems achieve a high level of brilliance.
This gem is faceted in a classic emerald cut design. The gem weighs 1.40 carats and measures 7.2 x 5.3 x 3.9 mm. The gem is eye clean, although it does have some tiny inclusions typical of this material–the macro images here are similar to the view through a 10x loupe.