Is Garnet a natural stone?
Natural garnets are common in nature and are available worldwide in the gem market. However, certain classifications of garnets such as Uvarovite, Tsavorite, Demantoid and color-changing garnets are considered rare finds by collectors. Natural garnets come in every color except the color of blue.
What is garnet from?
Garnets are found in metamorphic and igneous rocks. They form under extremely high temperatures and pressure. Garnet deposits are found in Africa, India, Russia, South America, Madagascar, Pakistan and the United States.
How does a garnet form?
Most garnet forms when a sedimentary rock with high aluminium content, such as shale, is metamorphosed (subjected to heat and pressure). The high heat and pressure breaks the chemical bonds in the rocks and cause minerals to recrystallise. Garnets can also be found in igneous rocks such as granite and basalt.
What does garnet stone mean?
With associations with the heart, blood, inner fire, and life force, garnets have long been considered symbols of love. Garnet symbolism also extends to friendship. Because of garnet’s association with pomegranate seeds, the stone has come to stand for the safe return of a friend or loved one.
Is garnet more expensive than ruby?
Specifically, you don’t want to pay for a ruby and wear a garnet. At a brief glance, they look very similar. However, rubies are considered one of the most valuable gemstones whereas garnets are, well, not. Rubies are harder, a much more brilliant red, and much more expensive.
Is color change garnet valuable?
Blue color change garnets are exceptionally rare stones. One large specimen has sold for $1.5 million per carat.
Where are the best garnets from?
The different species and types of garnet are mined and different locations around the world, precious Demantoid in Russia and Namibia, Tsavorite in Kenya and Tanzania, pinkish red rhodolite in India and Sri Lanka, Mandarin garnets in Namibia but the top producers of garnet as a whole are Australia, the US, India and …
How can you tell if a garnet changes color?
In incandescent light, it exhibits a reddish-orange to red color. The spessartite-grossular-pyrope color-change garnet exhibits a change of color from light bluish green in transmitted fluorescent light to purple in reflected fluorescent light. In incandescent light, the color is light red to purplish red.
What is the most common garnet?
Almandine
How many different types of garnets are there?
There are more than twenty garnet categories, called species, but only five are commercially important as gems. Those five are pyrope, almandine (also called almandite), spessartine, grossular (grossularite), and andradite. A sixth, uvarovite, is a green garnet that usually occurs as crystals too small to cut.