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In some quarters, garnets are so poorly regarded that all the word brings to mind are dull, dark-red stones, or perhaps an abrasive used in sandpaper. Indeed, garnets are plentiful, in no small part because the word is a catch-all for a host of...
In some quarters, garnets are so poorly regarded that all the word brings to mind are dull, dark-red stones, or perhaps an abrasive used in sandpaper. Indeed, garnets are plentiful, in no small part because the word is a catch-all for a host of minerals, from red pyrope and orange spessartine to brownish-red almandine. But garnets have been sought-after gemstones in fine jewelry for thousands of years. For example, almandines are probably the stones being identified in the Bible as carbuncles, while Bronze Age garnet beads have been found in Bohemia, the present day Czech Republic.
The Latin root of garnet is granatum, or pomegranate, while the Greek root for pyrope is that language's word for fire. Indeed, many garnets display red hues, but not all garnets glitter in a world of red, pink, and orange. In particular, the color of the demantoid variety of andradite garnets is a mossy green, the result of chromium in the mineral's composition. Such garnets are small (seldom heavier than a carat) and rare (the remote Ural Mountains of Russia is their primary source). A more common, if less desirable, variety of andradite is melanite, whose black stones are found in southern Europe and can be faceted into brilliant cuts for rings and other pieces of fine jewelry.
In a class all their own are the grossular garnets, which are a calcium-aluminum-silicate mineral whose colors range from emerald green to butterscotch to pink. The green stones are what give this flavor of garnets their name—grossular is taken from the botanical name for the gooseberry, R. grossularia—and green grossular stones from South Africa are known as Transvaal jade for their resemblance to that semi-precious gemstone. Similarly, tsavorite, named for the stone's discovery site's proximity to Tsavo National Park in Kenya, is a green grossular, while grossular garnets from Mali range in color from browns to yellows to pinks.
And then there are grossular garnets with a bit too much iron and manganese in their composition, which brings us back to the oranges and reds of the spessartine and pyrope garnets. Commonly called hessonite garnets, these "cinnamon stones," as they are also known, were popular with ancient Greek and Roman jewelers, who carved them into cameos and cabochons.
The birthstone for those born in January, garnets are thought to protect travelers when worn around the neck as a pendant, to ward off poisoning and lightning strikes, and even to control bleeding. Conversely, Chinese warriors used bullets made of garnets precisely because they were thought to do more damage than conventional ammunition. No doubt the victims of garnet bullets were brought to charlatans who would subsequently attempt to heal these poor souls with the very same stone that had brought them down.
Continue readingIn some quarters, garnets are so poorly regarded that all the word brings to mind are dull, dark-red stones, or perhaps an abrasive used in sandpaper. Indeed, garnets are plentiful, in no small part because the word is a catch-all for a host of minerals, from red pyrope and orange spessartine to brownish-red almandine. But garnets have been sought-after gemstones in fine jewelry for thousands of years. For example, almandines are probably the stones being identified in the Bible as carbuncles, while Bronze Age garnet beads have been found in Bohemia, the present day Czech Republic.
The Latin root of garnet is granatum, or pomegranate, while the Greek root for pyrope is that language's word for fire. Indeed, many garnets display red hues, but not all garnets glitter in a world of red, pink, and orange. In particular, the color of the demantoid variety of andradite garnets is a mossy green, the result of chromium in the mineral's composition. Such garnets are small (seldom heavier than a carat) and rare (the remote Ural Mountains of Russia is their primary source). A more common, if less desirable, variety of andradite is melanite, whose black stones are found in southern Europe and can be faceted into brilliant cuts for rings and other pieces of fine jewelry.
In a class all their own are the grossular garnets, which are a calcium-aluminum-silicate mineral whose colors range from emerald green to butterscotch to pink. The green stones are what give this flavor of garnets their name—grossular is taken from the botanical name for the gooseberry, R. grossularia—and green grossular stones from South Africa are known as Transvaal jade for their resemblance to that semi-precious gemstone. Similarly, tsavorite, named for the stone's discovery site's proximity to Tsavo National Park in Kenya, is a green grossular, while grossular garnets from Mali range in color from browns to yellows to pinks.
And then there are grossular garnets with a bit too much iron and...
In some quarters, garnets are so poorly regarded that all the word brings to mind are dull, dark-red stones, or perhaps an abrasive used in sandpaper. Indeed, garnets are plentiful, in no small part because the word is a catch-all for a host of minerals, from red pyrope and orange spessartine to brownish-red almandine. But garnets have been sought-after gemstones in fine jewelry for thousands of years. For example, almandines are probably the stones being identified in the Bible as carbuncles, while Bronze Age garnet beads have been found in Bohemia, the present day Czech Republic.
The Latin root of garnet is granatum, or pomegranate, while the Greek root for pyrope is that language's word for fire. Indeed, many garnets display red hues, but not all garnets glitter in a world of red, pink, and orange. In particular, the color of the demantoid variety of andradite garnets is a mossy green, the result of chromium in the mineral's composition. Such garnets are small (seldom heavier than a carat) and rare (the remote Ural Mountains of Russia is their primary source). A more common, if less desirable, variety of andradite is melanite, whose black stones are found in southern Europe and can be faceted into brilliant cuts for rings and other pieces of fine jewelry.
In a class all their own are the grossular garnets, which are a calcium-aluminum-silicate mineral whose colors range from emerald green to butterscotch to pink. The green stones are what give this flavor of garnets their name—grossular is taken from the botanical name for the gooseberry, R. grossularia—and green grossular stones from South Africa are known as Transvaal jade for their resemblance to that semi-precious gemstone. Similarly, tsavorite, named for the stone's discovery site's proximity to Tsavo National Park in Kenya, is a green grossular, while grossular garnets from Mali range in color from browns to yellows to pinks.
And then there are grossular garnets with a bit too much iron and manganese in their composition, which brings us back to the oranges and reds of the spessartine and pyrope garnets. Commonly called hessonite garnets, these "cinnamon stones," as they are also known, were popular with ancient Greek and Roman jewelers, who carved them into cameos and cabochons.
The birthstone for those born in January, garnets are thought to protect travelers when worn around the neck as a pendant, to ward off poisoning and lightning strikes, and even to control bleeding. Conversely, Chinese warriors used bullets made of garnets precisely because they were thought to do more damage than conventional ammunition. No doubt the victims of garnet bullets were brought to charlatans who would subsequently attempt to heal these poor souls with the very same stone that had brought them down.
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