Almandine: Almandine or Almandite is a member of the Garnet group, and is associated with the planet Pluto. Low quality pyrope is often cataloged and sold as Almandine. Almandine is generally darker than pyrope. Almandine colors vary from red to dark red, purple to purplish red, and even pink. Almandine is valued fairly low at somewhere between $5 and $225 a carat all dependent upon clarity, color, cut, an (read full)

Pyrope: Pyrope is the iron magnesium and aluminum silicate of the pyrope-almandine series in the Pyralspite group of the Garnet family. Its beautiful deep-red gem quality makes it one of the most popular. Pure pyrope is colorless, but its red color, sometimes very bright, is due to small quantities of chrome in the crystal structure. It appears as dodecahedral or trapezohedral crystals, dark red, usually (read full)

Sphalerite: Sphalerite is a zinc iron sulfide mineral formed in an isometric system. It is trimorphous with wurtzite and matraite. All three have the same chemical compound but crystallize in three different forms. The most common crystal forms of sphalerite are in dodecahedrons and tetrahedrons, elegant three-sided formations, often twinned, and otherwise usually massive, thus looking like brownish-black or (read full)

Hematite: Hematite is considered the most important Iron Ore mineral. Its crystals appear as reasonably thick. They may be tabular, or rhombohedral, and occasionally prismatic or pyramidal. Tabular crystals may form as rosettes, when they are called "iron roses." It also occurs as massive, compact, columnar, fibrous, reniform, botryoidal, stalactitic, foliated, and granular. When hematite forms in a renif (read full)