The name garnet, now applied to the entire family, was originally given to the garnets of the pyrope-almandine-series, due to their resemblance to red pomegranate seeds. The yellow-brown variety of grossular is called Hessonite (or essonite). Its name comes from the Greek Essen, meaning “inferior” gems of this color being regarded as least valuable.



Appearance:
It is a honey-yellow yellow-brown color, sometimes tending to a pinkish orange similar to that of spessartine. It has good luster and seemingly good transparency, but when viewed with a lens or other form of magnification, the interior always looks “treacly,” with undeluting, contorted areas of lesser transparency, like a highly concentrated with sugar solution with frequent, rounded, transparent crystalline. The gems are normally given a mixed, oval, or round cut.



Distinctive features:
Seen through a lens, the “treacly” appearance combined with the colour is a sure means of identification. Nothing comparable is found in other gems of similar color, such as citrine quartz, topaz, and yellow sapphire. Its luster, in any case, is superior to that of citrine quartz; it is distinguished from zircon of a similar color by its lack of obvious birefringence.



Occurrence:
It mainly comes from Sri Lanka, but is also found in the United States, Canada, and Brazil.



Value:
The value of hessonite is rather low, like that of almandine and pyrope, despite its very attractive appearance.