Home Minerals for sale Contact Minerals Books Opinions Links Personal Photo Gallery

Claus Hedegaard

Photos from Melanite Locale

Near the Gem Mine in San Benito Co., California, a slope is stuffed with 'black garnet' a.k.a. Melanite a.k.a. titanian Andradite. This used to be a popular shop rock and even fairly good specimens abound in collections. The Perovskite is mineralogically a bit more exiting, occurring in free-standing crystals in various shades of cream, brownish or reddish - and sometimes even translucent.
Ted Hadley eagerly studying a rock.


All the black stuff is crystallised titanian Andradite, but not this is not a 'back-up-and- get-rich-deposit'. It is a very well-known place, that has been collected for many years. I do not recall seeing anything worth having on site, so I will keep that piece I bought 20 years ago.

This page is written and maintaned by Claus Hedegaard