Rhodolite Garnet in Mica Schist- Cowee Valley, Macon County, North Carolina, USA For Sale

Cowee Valley, Macon County, North Carolina, USA
Dimensions: 4.6 × 3.2 × 1.8 cm
Provenance: Original catalog label No. 186 included; original locality listed as “North Carolina.”

A classic North Carolina Rhodolite specimen featuring numerous pale rose-pink to lavender-pink garnets distributed throughout a strongly micaceous metamorphic matrix. The Rhodolite occurs as rounded to partially developed crystals embedded among abundant bronze-brown mica and translucent to milky quartz-rich areas, giving the specimen a highly sparkling surface and attractive contrast.

Rhodolite is a rose-red to purplish variety within the pyrope-almandine garnet series. North Carolina\'s Cowee Valley is the historic type locality of Rhodolite, where the material was first studied and named in the late 19th century. Rhodolite occurs around Cowee Creek and Mason Branch and was traced into solid metamorphic rock on Mason Mountain.