Taaffeite

Ron, just picked up the stone [7.83 ct Pink Malaia Garnet] ... a masterpiece. Seems like something from another planet. Your photos abysmally failed to do it justice; so much better in person. Such a mood stone ... under certain lights, dark with intense red fire ... others, much more red with blue fire ... and a few lights, more peach than anything.  Overall, a very wide range of hues.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the lavender-magenta (my favorite colors) that are present. Of course, pink is the main color.   The other truly amazing thing is that the fire emits from the entirety of the stone - center included.  Most high-dispersion stones that I've seen primarily emit fire at or near the edges.  I guess this is because the dispersed light doesn't travel as far through the stone on the edges and, therefore, isn't absorbed as much.  With this stone, it's radiating right out of its center - I see no way possible that this registers the same level of dispersion as what is normally advertised for a garnet.  I've got a pretty nice greenish-blue zircon that can't even come close to the fire of this stone and zircons are supposed to register far higher levels than a garnet ... -- CM, USA, Jan 2020