Grandidierite was first described in southern Madagascar in 1902. The mineral is very rare; gem-quality material of facetable size was almost unheard of in the market before the summer of 2015. In September 2015, GIA’s Bangkok lab issued identification reports for several faceted grandidierite samples, which reached the consumer market the following month. The submitted stones ranged from 0.9 to 2.3 ct. Around the same time, one of the authors (VP) returned from a field expedition to Madagascar, where he had received some unidentified stones from Jack Mampihao.

Description:

clarity:SI