Tag: January birthstone

Posted on by

Spessartite Garnet

Also known as “Spessartine” this lively garnet is usually orange to reddish-brown and is somewhat rare. Most spessartites especially orange ones, have eye-visible inclusions.
Manganese is the element in Spessartiet that produces the orange color. Spessartite has been found in Brazil, Burma, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and the USA (San Diego County, CA). The most important sources today are Nigeria and northeast Namibia. Spessartites are not enhanced by any method. Hardness is 7 – 7.5 on the Mohs scale.

Posted on by

Himmeli Earrings with Garnet

Garnets are often named after the location where they are found. Umba River garnet is from the Umba Valley of Tanzania. They are a mixture of pyrope and spessartite and display a gorgeous orange-red garnet. It is also known as Umbalite garnet and is a relatively new gemstone to the market.

Posted on by

Tsavorite Garnet

If you’re contemplating green gemstones, one rare but beautiful alternative to emerald is a Tsavorite garnet.
Tsavorite garnet is one of the most important varieties of grossularite garnet. It was first discovered in 1967 by Campbell Bridges, a Scottish geologist. Tsavorite was named after Tsavo National Park on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, where the stones were discovered.
Tsavorite garnets are about 200 times rarer than emeralds, and they are among the most expensive types of garnets because of their rarity.
These types of garnets also tend to be small in terms of carat size. The majority of stones are under one carat. Pieces over two carats are rare and therefore significantly more expensive than the smaller stones. The most preferred color is a pure, highly saturated green.
Unlike emeralds, inclusions are rare, so Tsavorite garnets don’t typically need to be treated or filled. They have a high refractive index which makes them especially brilliant. They are moderately hard, measuring 6.5 – 7.5 on the Mohs scale.

Posted on by

Rhodolite Garnet with White Baroque Pearl Earrings

Rhodolite Garnet from Tanzanite, 6.75mm square radiant cut, 4.35ctw. cut by hand in the Berkshires. This rich purplish-pink color bring out the luster in these 15 x 12mm Fresh Water white baroque drops. Set in simple 18KY double wire baskets with posts and backs. Hand made in our workshop in Lenox.

Posted on by

Wedding Set with Pyrope Garnet

Floral Applique wedding ring set in 18K yellow gold. The engagement ring can be made with any gemstone. Here we have set a 1.02ct. 6mm round Pyrope Garnet. The rings nest nicely together to form one unique wedding set. Custom made by hand in our workshop.

Posted on by

Garnet, January Birthstone

Garnets are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms but differ in chemical composition. The different species are Pyrope, Almandine, Umba River, Spessartine, Grossular, Uvarovite and Andradite. Garnet is 6.5 – 7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale.

Posted on by

Tsavorite Garnet

Tsavorite garnet is a variety of the garnet group species grossular, with trace amounts of vanadium or chromium that provide the green color.

In 1967, British gem prospector and geologist Campbell Bridges discovered a deposit of green grossular in the mountains of north-east Tanzania.

Tsavorite garnet has a hardness of 7-7.5 on the Mohs scale, slightly higher than other species of garnet.

Posted on by

Spectacular Spessartite Garnet

Spessartine (or spessartite) is named after Spessart in Bavaria, Germany, the type locality of the mineral. Spessartine of an orange-yellow has been called Mandarin garnet and is found in Madagascar. Violet-red spessartine are found in rhyolites in Colorado and Main.

Spessartite, as other garnets, has a hardnes of 6.5-7 on the Mohs hardness scale.

Posted on by

Garnet, January Birthstone

Garnet is January’s birthstone, and the gem for the second wedding anniversary. It is available in a rich palette of colors: greens, oranges, yellows, 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 rare and needs rarer rock chemistries and conditions to form.

Demantoid is a rare and famous green garnet, spessartite is an orange garnet, rhodolite is a beautiful purple-red, andradite and grossular are a yellowish green color.

All garnets have essentially the same crystal structure, but they vary in chemical composition. There are more than twenty garnet categories, called species, but only five are commercially important as gems. Those five are pyrope, almandine, spessartite, grossular, and andradite. A sixth, uvarovite, is a green garnet that usually occurs as crystals too small to cut. It’s sometimes set as clusters in jewelry. Many garnets are chemical mixtures of two or more garnet species.