The Fascinating Garnet

Black Garnet Earrings by Personaloasis

I have always found rocks to be interesting. They come in cool shapes and have neat patterns inside. Some of them sparkle in the sunlight. You can tumble them to make them smooth. They come in different colors. So, as a child, I often found myself poking around in the dirt to see what was there.

My first introduction to the garnet came as I sat on the ground outside somebody's house waiting on my Mom to finish talking. We were on vacation and visiting Mom's family in Upstate South Carolina. I had found some little pebbles that were pretty ordinary looking - clay colored, like everything else, actually. When I showed them to Mom, she told me that they were garnets. Now, I don't know if they really were, but it was pretty neat to think you found something that actually had a name that other people would recognize.

Garnet is the birthstone for January. They come in many different colors, though most people only think of red. Green, yellow and orange are other fairly common colors. Some types of garnet even change color in different types of light. Garnets can be translucent (more like gems) or opaque.

There are different types of garnet that come in various colors. You can use the designations to help narrow down your search for this lovely stone. Here are some of the more commonly available types.

Almandine is the most common of the garnets used as gems due to its transparency. It includes iron in the chemical makeup which gives this variety of garnet its deep red tones.

Almandine Garnet Post Earrings by tellurus

Grossular (also called Hessonite) includes calcium and aluminum in its chemical makeup. It most commonly comes in yellows, greens and browns.

Hessonite Garnet Earrings by lavajewelry

Pyrope garnets includes magnesium and aluminum in its chemical makeup. It ranges in color from deep red to nearly black. It can also come in a purplish red tone as well. If the Pyrope garnet is more pink or reddish lavender in color, it earns a new name - Rhodolite.

Pyrope Garnet Earrings by PersonalOasis

Spessartite (also called Spassartine) garnets come in orange shades ranging from an orange-yellow tone to reddish orange. There's a variety in the US that comes in a reddish violet as well. Spessartites include manganese and aluminum in their chemical makeup.

Spessartite Garnet Ring by JanishJewels

What type of garnet do you prefer?