JTV's exotic gemstone expert Larry Pereg is joining us again to tell us some interesting facts about January's birthstone garnet.
Deep red color, endless legend and lore, garnet is the perfect gemstone to celebrate the New Year, new beginnings. The beautiful birthstone of January has been used throughout history, beginning with the Bronze Age. Consider the fact that garnet has the most variety of colors than any other mineral, except blue. Here a few of the members of this amazing family of Garnet:
Almandite - red, orange-red with brown purple red
Andradite - black, green, yellow
Demantoid - green, yellow green
Hessonite - orange to brown
Malaya - orange, red orange, yellow orange
Pyrope - red, orange red, purple red
Rhodolite - purple, red purple
Spessartite - orange-brown, red-orange, yellow, yellow-brown
Mandarin - vibrant orange
Tsavorite - bright rich green
Uvarovite - range of greens
Here are some interesting facts.
The name garnet comes from the word granatus which in Latin means pomegranate and as is obvious the garnet does look a lot like pomegranate seeds. There's a belief with garnet, as there is with many gemstones, that there are healing powers, they were even thought to cure depression (I guess depression existed back then too) and would protect you against bad dreams. Plato actually had a portrait of himself sculpted in Garnet.
Garnets were worn by many people in ancient Greece with the use of Talisman and amulets. Today garnets are found in many places but back in ancient they were found mostly in Bohemia and Slovakia.
Usually when I blog I tend to tell more stories but I thought some of the facts about garnet were worth knowing. It's such a beautiful and ancient stone.
I tend to repeat this because it never ceases to amaze me that we have access to this magnificent historic treasure of the Earth. What are the chances that we would be fortunate enough to live in this extraordinary era where so many rare and exotic gems are available to us.
We always make New Year resolutions with the best of intentions so how about this one… In 2013 let's learn about, and collect some of these gifts of nature. Let's start with the birthstone for January "GARNET" It will enhance your life and be worthwhile and satisfying to share the stories with friends and family. Go to JTV.com and be amazed by the variety of garnets that are available...It's a good day, enjoy.
Learn more about garnet at JTV.com.
