This 15.43 carat crystal from the remote Arlit region of Niger is an extraordinary example of iridescent andradite with a highly unusual and sculptural morphology. Measuring 15 x 14 x 10 mm, the piece exhibits what could be described as an elestial or staggered termination—a geometric stepping of crystallized layers that evokes skeletal quartz formations, yet rendered here in garnet.

Its surface flashes with brilliant interference colors—vivid gold, blue, and violet bands layered across its sharply defined ridges. The optical activity is intense, but it’s the form that truly sets this crystal apart: a complex, architectural body that breaks from the more typical dodecahedral habit, instead suggesting a multi-generational growth history, perhaps interrupted or pulsed during cooling.

From a region already known for rare material, this specimen stands out as both an aesthetic anomaly and a structural mystery—a relic of tectonic tension, light-bending mineralogy, and desert silence.

A must-have for advanced collectors of crystallographic oddities and optical phenomena.