Garnet

If you were born in January, then garnets of every color are your birthstone. Garnet is particularly well suited for use as a masculine birthstone in the cabochon cut. Garnets come in a wide variety of colors and have been a favorite gem since antiquity. Most garnets are red, green or orange.

The red garnet comes in a variety of different shades ranging from a deep red to violet. Mozambique garnets are a deep red, and are among the most commonly found for sale. Rhodolite garnets are a deep red-purple, or a rasberry color. In antiquity, some people believed that the red garnet prevented blood loss, and so was carried by warriors into battle. Red garnets were especially popular during the Hellenistic period; they may have been brought back from India by the soldiers in Alexander the Great's army. The red color of the garnet was also associated with wine and may have been sacred to Dionysis, the Greek god of wine.

Garnets are also naturally occuring in orange and green. The orange garnet is known as both spessarite and mandarin garnet. Spessarite garnet is a vibrant orange color and fairly rare. To date, it has only been found in a very few deposits, and its continuing availability is in doubt, making spessarite jewelry a rare find. Green garnets are called Tsavorite, having been first discovered in the Tsavo region of Africa, an area made famous for its maneless man-eating lions. Even today, tsavorite is commonly found in alluviul deposits along the Tsavo River in Tsavo National park, Kenya. Tsavorite garnets are a bright, brilliant green, and technically part of the grossular garnet group. Tsavorite, like spessarite, is a rare gemstone with a limited supply, but its beauty is unquestionable making it a spectacular and uncommon jewel.

Garnet is a member of the pyrope mineral group. Garnet has a hardness of 7. - 7.5 and a specific gravity of 3.78. Garnets are found in Africa, Sri Lanka and India.

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