

The finnish sweedish mineralogist Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld created the name of demantoid from the name of diamond (diamant-demant) in more langues, referring to the shine and dispersion of this mineral shaming diamond. The demantoid garnet is a calcium iron silicate, a variety of the andradite garnet which belongs to the garnet group. The demantoid is one of the rarest and most expensive variety of the garnets. It was explored in 1853 in the Ural Mountains, Russia, southwest from the city of Nizhny Tagil at the Elisabethinskoje village in the gold consisting sand of the river Bobrovka. Later better quality minerals were found south from there, near the Poldnevaja village at river Kusovaja. It became a very popular mineral in Russia, and one of the favorites of Peter Carl Fabergé, the famous russian jeweler, who after the Russian Revolution in 1917 became ’out of favor’. The typical inclusions ’gold ponytail’ of the russian minerals consisting of bissolite and chrysolite are important evidences of its origin. It issues in metamorphic rocks massively or in grains and usually occurs in small crystals. Localities: Russia, Italy, Madagascar, Tanzania, Iran, Namibia etc.