Jewelry Lovers

Most people think of garnets as red, but in fact only two of the six species of garnet are red; one is orange and three are green. That people do tend to think of garnet as a rich red stone is not surprising, however, since it was the red garnets from Bohemia that were used for decoration in ancient times. The Romans cut these cabochons and the name garnet is probably derived from the Latin word for pomegranate,granatus. Then in the Dark Ages garnets were used in the jewellery worn by warrior chieftains all over Europe and Scandinavia. The invaders from the Continent introduced garnets into Britain and the superb royal jewels found at Sutton Hoo are paved with these rich red stones.The Victorians loved them, and nineteenth-century jewellers made intricate garnet parures set with glowing red cabochons or faceted stones.

Five main families of garnets are recognized: almandine and pyrope which are red, spessartite which is orange and the three green garnets - andradite, grossular and uvarovite, the green demantoid (see page 88) being a member of the andradite family. The only other andradite garnet of any importance as a gem is the black variety which was occasionally used in mourning jewellery in the days when this was worn. There is also an intermediate pyrope-almandine, found in various shades of red. All these stones have different chemical compositions and all that really links them is the fact that they have similarly shaped crystals. With their twelve or twenty-four faces, these crystals look as though nature has produced them to be used as dice in some complicated game of chance.

Garnets have not been appreciated as much as they deserve to be in recent years, but there are signs of a revival of interests in them and with rubies and emeralds of any quality becoming so expensive the red and green varieties may well come into their own.

Demantoid

First discovered in Russia in the 1860s, this is a grass green stone which, like emerald, owes its colour to the presence of chromium. Unfortunately, demantoid garnet is both one of the rarest and one of the softest of gems. You are unlikely to come across modern jewellery set with this stone but if you collect Victorian jewellery the chance of finding a piece set with demantoids is an exciting possibility, though because of the softness of the stone you may find they are badly worn, particularly if mounted in a ring.

Grossular

The green garnet most readily obtainable today, as a result of a recent find of rich deposits in Tanzania, is the grossular. This stone is gooseberry coloured; the stones from Tanzania make beautiful cabochons, only a few of them being fine enough to warrant faceting. Unhappily politics have resulted in the supply of these stones being somewhat sporadic, and most of those that do come out are smuggled into Kenya. This has resulted in high prices - too high, many jewellers believe, to make them competitive with other green stones.

Some transparent green grossulars also come from Pakistan and massive speckled green and black grossular garnet is found both there and in South Africa. The similarity of this speckled stone to jade caused it to be called at one time Transvaal jade, a name which is no longer acceptable uncle.;

the Trade Descriptions Act in the UK and under similar legislation in many other countries. ( A ‘massive’ mineral is a compacted mass of compounded microscopic crystals, in contrast to sizable individual crystals with their distinctive face. Such massive material is sometimes referred to as micro- crystalline. A familiar example of a massive mineral is agate, which belongs to the quartz family, while amethyst is a typical crystalline quartz.)

Pyrope

The garnet of history is the pyrope, the stone found in abundance in the old kingdom of Bohemia, now part of Czechoslovakia. It is blood red and reasonably hard. For centuries the Bohemian cutters produced rose-cut gems from the local material and these faceted pyramids were set in rings_;brooches and necklaces of a distinctive Bohemian style. This jewellery is still produced in state factories in Czechoslovakia and by one or two firms in Germany set up by expatriate Czechs. Little of this jewellery has been seen in Britain in recent years because it has been out of fashion, but it is always possible that it could come back into favour again.

Pyrope garnets are also found in a number of other areas, notably in the diamond pipes in South Africa. This is, probably, one of the most neglected of gemstones at the moment. At its best it is a rich and beautiful stone and a very acceptable, inexpensive alternative to the scarce and costly ruby.

Almandine

Almandine garnets tend to be darker than pyropes and often have a violet tinge to them. The Victorians cut them _ascabochons, often hollowing out their backs to make the stone thinner and so appear lighter in colour. When found in antique jewellery these stones are sometimes referred to as carbuncles, though this name was also applied in the nineteenth century to other red stones which had been cut cabochon. Almandines are the hardest of all garnets, and are therefore the best suited for ring stones. They are found mainly in the East, notably in Sri Lanka, but also in Africa, South America, the Austrian Tyrol and Scotland, though the Scottish stones are seldom of gem quality.

Spessartite

The spessartite garnet is a rather rare stone but an important new find has recently been made in Brazil. I saw a collection of stones from this source in Idar Oberstein and they are of a beautiful orange yellow colour. Some spessartite garnets have a more reddish hue, while others tend to be rather brown and less attractive.

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The Garnet Family