I was sitting down the other day to write an article about garnet, being January’s birthstone and all, I figured it made sense.
Then, as I started to do research I realized two things:
Because Garnet is SO diverse and has SUCH a long history as a gem that this was going to be quite the undertaking.
These attractive orange-red garnets (1.35 – 6.92 ct) from Tanzania’s Umba Valley proved to be pyrope-almandine. The trilliant is a gift of Precious Gemstones Co.; GIA Collection no. 36746. Photo by Robert Weldon. Eric Poulsen, design/Photo by Robert Weldon
GIA Already has an AMAZING section on garnet in their gemstone encyclopedia. In my opinion it is one of their best entries in the entire encyclopedia!
Here is the beginning of their amazing article, and a link for you.
All the best
David Saad
Skyjems, your source for wholesale gemstones.
“Red garnets have a long history, but modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colors: greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated purplish reds, and even some blues. Red garnet is one of the most common and widespread of gems. But not all garnets are as abundant as the red ones. A green garnet, tsavorite, is rarer and needs rarer rock chemistries and conditions to form.”