Garnet's name probably came from a fruit called a pomegranate, which has the same kinds of reddish purple shade as the gemstone does. You would probably find tiny pieces of garnet in ancient jewelry, because it resembled the seeds of a pomegranate fruit.
There are many place that you can locate garnet, such as Australia, North America, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the South America. Some garnets will turn a different color in various lighting, like when garnets that are green turn to a shade that looks jade, and there are some that look like a star with four points. Garnet have were discovered many years ago, but there have been new places that they have been found recently.
Garnet belong to a group of gemstones that have both color and mineral differences, and some of the other in the group are, malaya, rhodolite, dematoid, hessonite, grossular, spessartite, mandarine, almandine, and other gems that are a mixture of these.
Almandine and Pyrope are both red, though Almadine is darker and more of a brown, while Pyrope looks like blood. The most popular kind of gem is Rhodolite, and it comes in a pink or reddish purple color and can be found in India, Sri Lanka, and Africa. Malaya and Tsavorite were discovered to be abundant in Kenya and Tanzania; Malaya comes in a orange or gold color, and Tsavorite comes in a different varieties of green. In Russia, you can find Demantoid; The gems called spessartite and Hessonite can be found in shades of orange, gold, and brown. Mandarin was only recently discovered in Namibia, and is the color orange; Groosular can be had in green, yellow, and pink.
Because almandine and pyrope are very common, they can be bought at a less expensive price. Rare gems, like Tsavorite and Demantoid will cost thousands of dollars to get, and you should also keep in mind that if a gem has a bright color, it will cost more than one that is dark or light. Garnets come in all sorts of sizes, but it easier to get the common ones in bigger sizes than it is for you to get the rare ones like Damantoid and Tsavorite.
For quite a long time, people have loved the wonderful colors that garnets posses and the mystical properties they are said to have. Garnets have been used by ancient Egyptians and by Russia's Tsars, especially the rare but beautiful Demantoid. Garnet were thought to keep their wearers from having accidents, from getting sick, make them more creative, keep them from getting angry, and they were also used to keep away evil spirits. Ancient people like Noah utilized a garnet in a lantern to create light in the dark and help him see on the Ark while it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
Because a garnet only ranges a 6 to 7 for hardness, it can be scratched, nicked, and cracked if it is hit or dropped.
Do not clean a garnet with steam, instead try using some warm water with soap and an Ultrasonic brush; this is okay to use on every type but demantoid.
Keywords: garnet, birthstone, gemstone