Garnet

Garnets

Garnet derives its name from the Latin granatum which means pomegranate. It recalls this fruit seeds colour. Garnets group include an important and vast collection of nesosilicate minerals, which various members are distinguished by their chemical diversity, even if they have the same crystal structure.
They can be found in a wide range of colours of the visible spectrum excluding the blue hues.Garnets have a hardness of 7.5 on the Mohs scale and have a remarkable lustre, both features typical of an excellent gemstone. We need to dismiss the bad reputation of low value dark red garnets associated with jewels of the last century. Nowadays some garnet varieties are admired by experts and connoisseurs worldwide not just for their beauty. Some varieties are very rare with amazing colours.
The “Tsavorite” variety belongs to the grossular garnet species and has a green colour similar to a fine emerald. Even rarer is the green demantoid garnet which, due to its high manifestation of refractions and diffusion, reaches the same brilliance as a diamond, which it takes its name from.

Curiosities:

The so-called “mandarin garnet” is unique due its special orange colour and represents a rare chemical combination.Quality gemstones derived from Garnets are generally pure and without inclusions. An exception is made for the more rare varieties, Tsavorite, the Spessartite (Mandarin –Garnet) and the Demantoid. The latter is one of the rarest gemstones ever, together with Alexandrite. These gemstones do not normally undergo treatments as common heat or radiation treatments since they are not effective. Synthetic copies of the rarest varieties have been produced and it is difficult even for an expert to recognise them.

Birthstone of January