Story of Garnet

 

GARNET

 

Type: Non-silicate

Mohs hardness scale: 6.5–7.5

Color: red, orange, pink, green, blue

 

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

The name of this mineral is derived from the Latin *granatum malum*, which means “pomegranate.” Garnet was used as early as the Bronze Age in jewelry, but also as an abrasive. Both uses have persisted to this day.

Red garnet is by far the most common, but colored garnets are also becoming increasingly sought after. All garnets have the same crystalline structure but differ in their chemical composition. There are more than twenty types of garnets, but only five of them are available on the market. These are pyrope, almandine, spessartine, grossular, and andradite.

COLOR

Garnets occur in all colors, with red being the most common. The rarest color is blue garnet, which is a relatively recent discovery and was first found in the 1990s. The color of garnets depends on the chemical elements contained in the mineral.

OCCURRENCE

Russia (demantoid), the Czech Republic (pyrope—the České středohoří Mountains, the Podkrkonoší region near Nová Paka), India (almandine).

TYPES

Almandine is the most common type of garnet, typically featuring a deep red color.

Its rarest variety is aster garnet (which forms a star effect).

Pyrope occurs in deep red colors. It has been very popular in jewelry since the Middle Ages and was exported to Europe from the České středohoří Mountains.

Of all garnet varieties, pyrope has the best physical properties (thermal conductivity and elasticity). One of its varieties is rhodolite, which consists of 30% almandine and 70% pyrope. Rhodolite is considered the finest of the red garnets.

There are two significant varieties of spessartine: Malaya garnet and Namibian spessartine (mandarin garnet). The latter variety is very rare and has a deep orange color. Malaya garnet has a beautiful pink color with orange highlights.

Tsavorite is a dark green variety of garnet that is mined only in very limited quantities in Tanzania. As a result, it is one of the most expensive garnets in existence.

Demantoid is a grass-green variety of andradite. When it was discovered in Russia, it was compared to a diamond. Its color and luster even captivated the jeweler Fabergé, who enjoyed incorporating it into his jewelry.

USES

This group of minerals is primarily used in the manufacturing industry. Garnet is a component of cutting, grinding, and drilling tools. It is also popular in jewelry making.