Important New Blue Color Change Garnet Find to Debut on JTV
by Jay Boyle, Senior Gemstone Buyer, Jewelry Television and JTV.com
One thing all gem dealers and collectors agree upon is that finding a new source for a rare and beautiful gemstone is exciting. Soon JTV will have the pleasure of offering the rarest member of the exotic garnet family with a new find of Blue Color Changing Garnet from southern Tanzania.
While the garnet family has many exotic members and many rich colors, “blue” has long been the missing color. Throughout my career I’ve heard: “Garnet comes in every color except blue.” But this new find in Masasi in southern Tanzania has turned this traditional wisdom on its head.
The Masasi mining region is an 8-10 hour drive south of the Merilani region where another famous blue gemstone, Tanzanite, was found in 1967. This region is one of the world’s richest subterranean caldrons for exotic gems. This is East Africa’s caldron of gemstone creating region called the Mozambique Orogenic Belt. Where 500-600 million years ago the plate tectonics worked a unique magic allowing the formation of rare crystalline gemstones.
During the last 30 years of my career only a few times have I been offered such distinctive color change garnets that are blue to greenish blue in daylight and have a dramatic color change to a raspberry, rhodolite garnet red. Most of this new find is graded as very strong to moderate color change. I think it looks very much like fine Brazilian Alexandrite.
If history is any guide then I would not expect this new find of gem quality blue color change garnet to last. Experts are still debating what causes such a strong color change. Most think it is a unique combination of Vanadium and Chromium.
All the buyers at Jewelry Television are excited by the availability of this rare beauty and we all want some in our collection. This find is being talked about as a very, very rare find of an important new gemstone.
On July 21st Jewelry Television will debut blue color change garnet. We will have some specials in jewelry and in loose gemstones. So watch for this new beauty coming soon, brought to you by Jewelry Television and JTV.com. It’s exciting to be part of this.
- Jay Boyle
