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Garnet : January Birthstone / Zodiac Sign Capricorn / Anniversary Gemstone 2nd Year

Garnet comprise a group of differently colored minerals with similar chemical composition. The name derives from Latin meaning grain because of the rounded edges of the rough crystals. Although garnets are usually thought of as red (such as seen in almandine and pyrope) they come in other colors as well.

Garnet have a hardness of 7.5 and are transparent to translucent. The garnet varieties are pyrope, almandine, spessartite, grossular, demantoid, and uvarovite. Pyrope garnet is deep red with a brown tint, and is sometimes mistaken for ruby. It was at the height of fashion in the 18th and 19th century, and is found in many antique jewelry items.

Rhodolite is a rose-red or pale violet garnet. Pyrope and rhodolite are found in North Carolina, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Zambia and Tanzania. Almandite is red with a violet tint. It is found in Sri Lanka, India, Afghanistan and Brazil. Spessartite is orange to red-brown. It was originally mined in Spessart, Germany. Its main deposits now come from Sri Lanka, Brazil, USA, and Sweden.

Grossular garnets are green, yellow and copper-brown. The name is derived from Latin meaning gooseberry. Grossular garnets are usually green. Deposits are found in Sri Lanka, Canada, Pakistan, South Africa, Russia, and the USA. The varieties of grossular are hessonite (a brown-orange), leuco (colorless), hydrogrossular, an opaque or green grossular, also called transvaal jade), and andradite (a variety that is usually not suitable for jewelry).

Demantoid is a gem variety of andradite that is transparent and emerald green with a diamond-like luster. It is by far the most valuable garnet. It is found in the Urals, and can be confused with peridot, emerald, and tourmaline. Melanite is an opaque black variety of andrite and topazolite is a lemon yellow variety of andradite. Uvarovite is transparent emerald green and is mined in the Urals, Finland, India, Poland, Canada, and the USA.

***Care Tips of Garnet

It's Safe to clean garnet in ultrasonics if they don't have fractures or liquid inclusions. It's safer to just clean them with warm soapy water. Never boil or stream clean garnets. Abrupt temperature changes cause fracturing. They are slightly attacked by hydrofluoric acid, but otherwise they're resistant to chemicals. Garnets do not Fade.

A major advance of garnets is that they're normally not treated with oil, plastic, wax, epoxy, dyes, glass-like filling and other substances. When you buy a garnet, you're usually getting a truly natural gemstone.