Choosing your perfect gemstone: Garnet

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Garnets are the birthstone for January and traditionally given on a second wedding anniversary. Garnets are often overlooked due to the common darkish-red colour that they are found in.

However, we have a few reasons why these gemstones deserve a bit more attention…

BIRTHSTONE: JANUARY

ANNIVERSARY: 2ND

COLOURS: VARIOUS, FROM RED TO PURPLE, GREEN AND ORANGE

MINERAL: SILICATE

HARDNESS: 6.5-7.5

You may have already guessed that garnets don’t just come in red…there are a few variations such as spessartine which is a beautiful golden orange to yellow colour, rhodolite garnets that can be found in a very vivid purple and one of our favourites…tsavorite, which is a beautiful green that ranges in intensity.

More ABOUT GARNETS…

The name garnet comes from the latin word “granular” which refers to pomegranate due to the striking resemblance in colour.

Most of the world’s gemstone quality garnets are found in Africa.

YOUR CARE GUIDE

Warm, soapy water is always safe. Ultrasonic cleaners are usually safe for untreated garnets but some are fracture filled so care is recommended . Very occasionally we have come across stones that have had their fractures filled which can cause problems when we work on them, as much as possible we source our own stones from suppliers that always disclose any quality enhancing treatments.

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We generally hold a small selection of coloured gem stones in stock, but often arrange for our gemstone specialists to provide a more for you to look at. We will discuss any particular shapes, cuts, sizes, colours and budgets that you are after so we show you stones that are going to be right for you. Sometimes this is a staged process so don’t worry if you’re not sure at the moment.

ENJOY A DESIGN EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OF OUR EXPERTS...