Garnet

Although most people think of it as a dark red gem, garnet actually comes in a spectrum of different hues, including bright orange and green, almost every color except blue. There is garnet for every taste and budget. Vibrant green TSAVORITE garnet can be thousand of dollar per carat while RED GARNET is among affordable gems.

HISTORY & LORE:
Garnets have long been carried by travelers to protect against accidents. Ancient mystic believe garnets could prevent nightmares.
Centuries ago in Asia, bullets incorporated bits of red garnet to increase ferocity of a wound.
In the ancient world, reddish-brown garnet was known as carbuncle. Scholars believe the name garnet derives from the Latin for pomegranate: in many ancient pieces of garnet jewelry, the tiny red stones are set to resemble a cluster of pomegranate seeds.
Garnet is a US birthstone for January.

QUALITY, VALUE & AVAILABILITY:
Gem varieties include purplish-red rhodolite garnets, green tsavorite and demantoid garnets, and orange mandarin spessartite and Malaya garnets.
Availability depends on variety: tsavorite is very difficult to find sizes above a carat or two, while rhodolite garnet is available in large sizes.
Prices also depends on variety: fine tsavorite and dematoid are often thousands of dollars per carat. Mandarin, Malaya, and fine purple-pink rhodolite garnet can be hundreds per carat. Dark red almandine garnet is usually among the most affordable gems at a few dollar per carat.
Collectors should always be on a lookout for Victorian jewelry set with brilliant green stones. These could turn out to be rare and valuable demantoid garnet, the era’s favorite green gem.
Garnets are most commonly cut round oval and cushion shapes.

SOURCES:
East Africa produces the most exciting color ranges of garnets. Kenya and Tanzania produce garnets not found elsewhere, including “lime green” tsavorite and orange Malaya.
Madagascar, Mali and Namibia also produce a wide range of garnets, with Namibia noteworthy for producing the vivid orange color mandarin garnet as well as some demantoid garnet.
The most famous source of demantoid is Russia but production is limited.
India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the United States are also garnet sources.

ROUTINE ENHANCEMENT:
The is no routine enhancement for garnet

CARE AND CLEANING:
This durable and brilliant gem is easy to care for, with hardness of 7,25 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale.
Clean garnet with mild soap in warm water: use toothbrush to scrub behind the stone where dust can collect.

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