Thanks for the nice comments everyone. Yes, I also tend to prefer CC garnets over alexandrite, which in my opinion isn't all that spectacular a gem. It was probably a huge sensation at the time of its discovery -- before the invention of the light bulb -- when fine ladies showed off the color change in gas or candlelight then sported a different color in daylight. But the scarcity and price of high-end material has relegated it to rich collector status. My stones are from a recent discovery in India and they're quite small -- as most alex's on today's market are.
Recognition of color-change garnets is a fairly recent development though they've been around, unpublicized, forever. To my knowledge they're found primarily in east Africa, Madagascar and India. My material comes from Tanzania and most of the stones I posted are quite small, a carat or so. One is several carats and very nice.
Some Indian garnets have what's called the "alexandrite" color-change: reddish to greenish. But most African stones seem to show unpredictable colors depending on the light. Some I have show at 3 different hues in daylight, mixed daylight/incandescent and incandescent. For some reason gemologists tend to devalue any but the alexandrite colors.
Many people are disappointed when they see CC stones in hand. They expect dramatic color change, not realizing that most lighting situations involve mixed color temperatures and the stones react accordingly. They seldom see the gems in pure incandescent light or pure mid-day daylight. The images I posted are representations of pure daylight fluorescent light and incandescent light, which are not typical. But as a gem geek I find all that stuff fascinating.
