It has a characteristic red color, inclining to orange, much like that of gem zircon. Indeed it was shown many years ago, by Sir A. H. Church, that many gems, especially engraved stones, commonly regarded as zircon, were really hessonite. The difference is readily detected by the specific gravity, that of hessonite being 3.64 to 3.69, whilst that of zircon is about 4.6. Hessonite has a similar hardness to that of quartz, about 7 on the mohs scale, whilst the hardness of most garnet species can reach 7.5.
Hessonite comes chiefly from Sri Lanka, where it is found generally in placer deposits, though its occurrence in its native matrix is not unknown. It is also found in Brazil and California.
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Last updated on Sunday February 25, 2007 at 20:08:38 PST (GMT -0800)
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