Mineral: Grossular
Locality: Sierra de las Cruces, Sierra Mojada mining district, Municipio Sierra Mojada, Coahuila (Coahuila de Zaragoza), Mexico
Dimensions: 20 cm

Description: The specimen is approximately 20 cm across, and the largest Grossular crystal is about 7 cm long. The matrix is a mixture of fine grained clear to whitish garnets and what is likely wollastonite. This specimen was collected by Graham Sutton and Bob Griffis in December 1993 from an isolated hill (Cerro de Moka) at the south end of the Sierra de Cruces mountain range. The garnet-bearing outcrop was at the top of the hill and was completely removed over 2 field trips. After spending about 80 hours using an air scribe to carefully expose the garnets from their enclosing matrix, the specimen was sold to Dennis Beals who did more work on it. He then sold it to the Freiburg Museum, where it is now in the Pohl collection. Someday, I would like to see it again! Photo is a scan of a pre-digital print, so excuse the quality, and note that it represents the specimen prior to Dennis performing additional preparation work.

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