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Garnets from Green’s Garnet Farm in Roxbury, Connecticut.
Joe and I were very lucky to experience this site, successfully I might add, as it is NOW CLOSED. Alas, it is closed to the public, but here is how it used to work out in 2012…
We once again had varied directions from the web. This is out in rural, and I mean RURAL, CT. I have always said that to a collector or dealer from China, or Japan, these places we go to are EXOTIC. Think about it for a minute,,,,what a village and mine an hour bike-ride outside of Hanoi is to us, that is what rural Roxbury is to someone from Asia.
We finally found the ranch-style house, as described, and per the on-line directions, we knocked on the door, a young man in pyjama bottoms, no shirt and a Mohawk style haircut answers the door, you hand him $5 per person, thank him, and you are off!
The mine itself is a few minutes walk behind the house, and pathway clearly marked. Now some of the rock is soft, more like compacted dirt, the smaller garnets literally fall out of that rock. You can also find them scattered all over the area.
The larger garnets, like we have, are in the hard mica, silvery schist. That is a very hard rock to crack so once again you wish you had a jack-hammer while you slam a Red Bull energy drink to continue pounding the rock. Personal preference for me is the matrix specimen with the larger garnets still “in situ.”
Joe experimented with some of his finds and tumbled them, but they are too dark for the polishing to draw out much more color than natural state.
We filled buckets however, and thank goodness we did since the site is now CLOSED. We don’t know any details, but these Roxbury garnets are not as readily available as once were. We noticed this at the Eastern Federation Mineral and Lapidary Convention. Some dealers who sold these garnets for $10 last year, were now charging $35.
We ran into the Suffolk Gem and Mineral Society during the visit, or should say a very nice couple who were both members of Suffolk Gem and Mineral Society. Like many sites, if you can go during the week, the traffic is so much lighter, if at all.
So thank you to the young man wearing no shirt with the Mohawk hairstyle for the great hard-to-find garnets we have in our inventory. Be seeing you,
