Unboxing Garnet | Rhodolite, Pyrope and Demantoid
It's the Connecticut state gem & January's birthstone, but did you know Garnet is a whole family of gems with many colors and unique properties? In today's episode, check out all six species of Garnet, plus some rare and unusual varieties.
Garnet is one of the most prominent gemstones in jewelry wearing, and it comes in every rainbow color. It has good toughness, ranking 7-7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. The six garnet species include pyrope, almandine, spessartite, grossularite, andradite, and uvarovite. Spessartite is an orange garnet variety, sometimes known as mandarin garnet.
Andradite is commonly known as the variety demantoid, which is widely a bright yellow gemstone, sometimes referred to as topazolite. Pyrope is found as the deep red classically famous garnet. Uvarovite is a widely unknown but precious variety of garnet. This garnet is so scarce that it is nearly impossible to find in sizes over .25 carats! Uvarovite is named in honor of Count Sergey S. Uvarov, a Russian statesman, scholar, and avid mineral collector.
Grossularite is a pale-green variety of garnet. Tsavorite garnet is one of the most valuable garnet species and is included in the grossularite garnet group! Find out which is diamond-like, which comes from ants and which has a rainbow of color!
