If you’re looking to purchase a garnet for yourself or someone special, it is a great way to celebrate friendship, toast a second wedding anniversary or recognize the wearer’s January birthday. That’s just a few reasons to buy the new gemstone, if you need the special reason. I celebrate only the beauty of the stone always follow it when I am choosing the stone for myself or for my clients. And today I’ll share with you how not to get lost in the huge garnet family and how to find best garnet or may be few garnets for yourself.
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Hi everyone,
I’m Sasha Kareva and on this channel I talk about GEMSTONES. Welcome!
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People have used garnets for jewelry and decorative objects since ancient times. It's one of the oldest known gemstones. Archeologists have recovered garnet necklaces and talismans from Ancient Egyptian tombs and mummies.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans also highly valued this gem. They used garnet signet rings to seal important documents as well as for a variety of jewelry pieces and other items. In fact, the word "garnet" comes from the Latin word granatus for seed or grain, most likely a reference to the seeds of the pomegranate fruit. Indeed, some garnets do resemble pomegranate seeds in color, size, and shape. Even novadays, many associate garnets with the color red, they can come in many other colors, including yellow, orange, green, and even blue. Let’s start to explore garnets with their stunning colors.
The garnet family is really huge. To make it easier, better to divide them into two groups. There are two main groups of gem garnets. One group includes aluminium silicates of which the three species are pyrope, in which magnesium is also present, almandine, which contains iron, and spessartine, which incorporates manganese.
Almandine is the most common garnet gemstone. In fact, the deep red color coveted in garnets usually represents a mixture of almandine and pyrope. Available in standard sizes and a wide range of red hues, almandine gems are less expensive than their rarer cousins. They also possess a hardness of 7-7.5. While this variety sometimes occurs in large sizes, larger stones are often too dark to be gem quality. Faceted gems are generally eye clean.
Rhodolite is intermediate member between pyrope and almandine. Usually has purplish red to purple color.
Pure pyrope is unknown in nature. Most specimens blend with almandine, forming the classic red hues famous in garnets. Some stones also contain spessartine chemistry and exhibit orange hues.
Rare garnets with significant spessartite content exhibit orange hues. Those with a somewhat reddish hue, arising from almandine components, have the finest color. Lighter orange gems are chemically closer to pure spessartite. Red-brown hues indicate a larger amount of almandine. Most spessartites, especially orange ones, have eye-visible inclusions. But the color is so stunning, this kind of garnet is remain one of the most desirable for last few years.
Malaya garnet is a gemological varietal name for light to dark slightly pinkish orange, reddish orange, or yellowish orange garnet, that are of a mixture within the pyralspite series pyrope, almandine, and spessartine with a little calcium.Malaya garnet is a trade name, we can call it also pyrope/spessartite . This kind of garnet has pinkish orange through yellowish orange color.
Seems, you can be confused between them. Simply say, to this group belong garnets which demonstrate yellow, orange, pink, red, purple colors. Every mix between members of this group create a new color and a new variety, like pyrope-almandine which we call rhodolite or pyrope-spessartine, which we call Malaya garnet.
Second group is for garnets of green, brown and even black color.
Uvarovite has an emerald green hue, has only one deposit in the world. I used to work with this gem for jewelry for many years and never saw crystals more than 4 mm. That means, faceted uvarovite is very very rare, may be few pieces in the world are exist.
Garnets from the second group we can divide for grossular and andradite garnets.
To grossular garnets belongs - hessonite, hydrogrossular and tsavorite.
Tsavorite coloured by chromium or vanadium. This stone has been actively marketed as an alternative to emerald and is by far the most commercially-important green garnet. Hues range from vibrant , pure greens to yellows greens. Large pieces are rare and carry a high price premium.
To Andradites garnets belongs topazolite, demantoids and melanite garnets. I have the whole video dedicated to the demantoid garnet. If you haven’t watch it before, I have to say, that this green or yellowish green variety of andradite with very high dispersion. Thats why this kind of garnet is also always on high demand.
Melanite garnet contains titanium and exhibits a beautiful black color with exceptional shine. It is not transparent and nobody facet it. But you can come across melanite specimens in silver jewelry.
And the last variety of garnets would be Mali garnet, because it is a hybrid of grossular and andradite chemistry, Displaying yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-brown hues
Displaying yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-brown hues, Mali garnets are a hybrid of grossular and andradite chemistry. With andradite's high dispersion, these stones are stunning. As with other garnets, green hues are rare, so stones with green primary hues sell at a premium. Brownish-hued specimens are less expensive than yellow or yellow-green gems.
Ideally, a high-quality garnet will have a well-balanced color that is neither too dark nor too pale, with a strong saturation that makes its hue pop. Of course, personal preferences play a pivotal role in choosing the ‘right’ color. Whether you’re drawn to the fiery oranges of spessartine garnets or the lush greens of tsavorite garnets, the key is to select a shade that resonates with your aesthetic and feels authentic to you.
Let’s move to the clarity. Garnet clarity expectations do differ with chemical variations. Among the red varieties, eye-clean specimens are abundant. However, orange garnets often contain some inclusions. Andradite garnets, including demantoids, frequently contain horsetail inclusions. Beautiful to observe, they also give the stone a unique character.
So, you choose the variety of garnet for yourself and already know which color would be good.
Lets continue with clarity, cutting and carats weight.
Garnet clarity expectations do differ with chemical variations. Among the red varieties, eye-clean specimens are abundant. However, orange garnets often contain some inclusions. Andradite garnets, including demantoids, frequently contain horsetail inclusions. Beautiful to observe, they also give the stone a unique character.
Cutting is also depending from garnet variety. Common varieties should always receive cuts to maximize performance, while rare specimens may be cut to retain weight. For example, lapidaries may cut andradite garnets to best feature horsetail inclusions, while cutting cleaner stones to showcase this variety's excellent dispersion.
When we are talking about the size, we should remember, that Tsavorite and demantoid garnets are uncommon in large sizes. As a result, price per carat rises quickly for these varieties. However, for the more common garnet species like almandine, the price per carat doesn't rise steeply for larger gems.
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In the consulsion, I would like provide the numbers, mean prices. How much you should pay for the garnet around 3 cts. For every variety price will be different, for demantoid and tsavorite this size is extremely rare and even included peaces start with the price 1000$ per/carat, 7000$-10000$ per carat, also possible if the piece is stunning and has good color, clarity, nice cutting. For Spessartrtite price will be 200$ carat for average 3 carats piece and 400-600$ per carat for better one. Almandine is the most common in the garnet family., price can start with 30$ per carat for low quality. Good 3 carat piece without black and brown undertone can cost 100$-150$ a carat. One of my favourite is rhodolite garnet. It, ususally costs from between 100-300$ per carat for good quality piece.
Melanite and Uvarovite are usually measured in grams and price will be 5-15$ per gram.
WHAT CAUSES THE DIFFERENT COLORS IN GARNET?
Hessonite- Iron
Tsavorite- vandium and chromium
Malaya- (malaia) Manganese
Color Change- Chromium, Vanadium
Pyrope- Iron and or chromium (chrome pyrope)
Rhodolite- Iron
Spessartite- Manganese and iron
Demantoid- Chromium
Almandite- Iron