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Garnet, the January birthstone, derived its name from
the Latin word granatus, meaning like a grain, which refers to crystals
which resemble grains or seeds embedded in the matrix. There are a number of
trade and variety names for garnet, most of these names are for particular
colors of the mineral. Garnet is allochromatic, meaning that most of the
color variations in different garnets are due to their highly variable trace
element impurities.
Hessonite is the variety name for a fine orange,
cinnamon brown, or pinkish variety of grossularite, while tsavorite
is the trade name for fine dark green grossularite.
Melanite is a black titanium bearing variety of andradite.
demantoid is a rich green variety.
Malaya is a trade name for a pyrope-spessartite that varies in color
from red, through shades of orange and brownish orange to peach and pink.
Rhodolite is a purplish red pyrope-almandite solid solution garnet.
Fine-quality pyrope garnets from Czechoslovakia are often called Bohemian
garnets.
Garnet displays the greatest variety of color of any
mineral, occurring in every color except blue.
grossularite can be colorless, white, gray, yellow, yellowish green,
and various shades of green, brown, pink, reddish, or black.
Andradite garnet can be yellow-green, green, greenish brown, orangey
yellow, brown, grayish black or black.
Pyrope is commonly purplish red, orangey red, crimson, or dark red
almandite is deep red, brownish red, brownish black or violet-red.
A few garnets exhibit a color-change phenomenon. They are one color when
viewed in natural light and another color when viewed in incandescent light.
All species of garnet have been used as gemstones since prehistoric times.
In ancient times they were known as carbuncles, as were other red
gems. Garnet is the symbolic gemstone for
the 18th wedding anniversary. |
