Garnets - aren’t these the magnificently deep red gemstones which are often found in antique jewellery? Well, this is only the incomplete truth, as a warm and deep red is indeed the most commonly happening colour for Garnets. But sadly only a few people know that the dominion of Garnets holds many more intense and stunning colours. The conventional image of Garnet has been brightly altered by amazing founds, mainly from Africa. Although red remains the main colour, Garnets today easily change to any new colour trend in fashion due to the rich range available. And because of the new founds, there are reliable sources for steady supply in these elaborate colours. All this explains why this very gemstone family manages to keep on as long as new impulses for the jewellery events in our days.

An expert will understand "Garnet” as the denomination for a group of over ten different gemstones with a comparable chemical structure. Although the colour red is the one which occurs most frequently, there are also Garnets showing different shades of green, pale to bright yellow, fiery orange and fine earth- and umbra-shades. Only blue is a colour which is not available in Garnet. Garnets are gemstones which are in high demand and are often worked into pieces of jewellery - particularly since today not only the conventional gemstone colours red, blue and green are cherished by the consumer, but the midway shades and hues are also very common. Besides the realm of Garnets also possesses rarities such as asterism or atones which change their colour from daylight to artificial light.

What else characterises this gemstone family? First of all, there is the outstanding hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale. This applies, with minor variations, to all the members of the Garnet group. And this is also an elucidation why these gemstones are so excellent to wear. Garnets are quite sturdy and resistant to everyday wear and tear, and uncomplicated to work into jewellery. Only to hard impact or uncontrolled heating they will react adversely. Another point in support of Garnets is their high refraction of light, the reason for the amazing brightness of Garnets. The shape of the uneven crystal is also appealing. Garnet, after all, means something like "the grainy” and is derived from the Latin word "granum” meaning "grain”. This refers to the characteristically rounded shape of Garnet and also reminds of the seeds of the pomegranate. In the middle ages, Garnet was also called "karfunkel” in German, referring to the glowing red reminding of the sparks of fire. Today there are a lot of creative names used in the trade, such as Arizona Ruby, Arizona Spinel, Montana Ruby or New Mexico Ruby.

Garnets have been widely known for thousands of years. Even Noah, it is reported, used a lantern from Garnet in order to safely steer his Ark through the darkness of the night. Garnets are found in jewellery from ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman eras. Many brave discoverers and travellers wore Garnets for guard, as they were considered popular talismans and protective stones, because it was believed in those days that Garnets light up the night and avert their wearer from any sort of evil. Today science explained to us that the recognizable glow of Garnet is caused by its high refraction of light.

If you love the perfect naturalness and sun-drenched warm colours of Indian summer, you will fall in love with range of colours displayed by Garnets. Today these stones come mostly from African countries, also from India, Russia, central and south America. The skilled hands of cutters all over the world shape them in many traditional forms and more and more also in modern fancy designer’s cuts. Garnets appeal normally because of their natural and not manipulated beauty, their wide variety of colours and their superb brilliance. If you buy Garnet jewellery you can be certain to enjoy this gemstone gift from Nature permanently and without inhibitions.