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January - GarnetWorn by women of extraordinary beauty as far back as ancient Egypt, January is Garnet.
So you're probably thinking, "I sure hope Caesar didn't buy Cleopatra one of those dingy dark orange chain-store Garnets." You see at Perrywinkle's, Garnets don't have to be that way. Our garnets are a unique variety known as Rhodalite. Flashing a rich, intense raspberry color that radiates from within -- never ordinary looking -- and starting in the one hundred dollar range.
And, of course, at Perrywinkle's you'll find other rare varieties of garnet, green tsavorite garnet, orange mandarin garnet and golden spessartite garnet -- all so intensely vivid, your little Caesar won't know which to one to shower you with.
Then, when placed into a setting from our collection of timeless designs, a Perrywinkle's Rhodalite will put some raspberry sparkle in your life.
Garnet Education:
Traditionally, the birthstone for January when in a dark red-orangey color (the most common). Garnets come in a variety of colors and can be worn, simply, as your color of choice. Spectacular recent finds, mainly from Africa, allow it to adapt to any fashion using sun-drenched warm colors of Indian summer. Garnet is found in jewelry from the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman eras and it appeals to Perrywinkle customers today because of its natural non-treated beauty.
Some Garnet varieties are: Demantoid (green), Grossularite (yellow to green and brown), Pyrope (dark red), Rhodalite (raspberry), Tsavorite (green), and Spessartite (fiery orange). Other "non-official" names used are Arizona Ruby, Arizona Spinel, Montana Ruby or New Mexico Ruby.
Rhodalite is a variety of red Garnet with a crystal mixture from Almandine and Pyrope. It has a velvety red with a fine purple or raspberry colored undertone. Originally discovered in the USA, now it is mainly found in gemstone mines in East Africa, India and Sri Lanka. It comes from the Greek words rhodon, meaning "rose," and lithos, meaning "stone."
Spessartite, named for it's rare occurrence in the German Spessartite mountains, is now mined in Namibia and Nigeria. Mandarine Garnet refers to the certain similar color from one remote Namibian mine.
Tsavorite is a variety of Grossularite. Tiffany's renamed the stone which had been discovered in 1967 by British geologist Campbell R. Bridges in North-East Tanzania. The emerald-green stone was named after its occurrence near the famous game park Tsavo-National Park. Tsavorith is of a vivid light to velvety deep green and has strikingly high brilliance.
Demantoid is rarest of the greens and hardly ever found. It has brilliance that rivals that of diamond. Russia's leading court jeweler Carl Faberg loved this stone from the Ural Mountains more than any other stone, and liked to use it in his creations. The rare Demantoid is now found in Namibia, however, they lack one minor characteristic: the so-called "horsetail-inclusions", fine bushy-shaped inclusions which are the characteristic birthmark identifying Russian Demantoids.
Gemology
Garnet is the name for a group of different gemstones with a similar chemical structure, including different shades of green, pale to bright yellow, fiery orange and fine earth- and umbra-shades. Blue is the color which is not available. Garnets also possesses rarities such as asterism (comet-like banding) or color change when exposed from daylight to artificial light.
Garnets have excellent hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs' scale, with minor variations, amongst the varieties so they provide very good wearable.
They have a high refraction of light, allowing for the excellent brilliance. The shape of the Garnet rough crystal is rounded and also looks like the seeds of the pomegranate.
Crystal Structure
Crystal system: Isometric, rhombic, dodecahedrons, icositetrahedron.
Properties:
Refractive Index 1.76
Hardness = 7-7.5 (Moh's Scale)
Specific Gravity =3.84
History
Garnet translates to something like "the grainy" from the Latin word "granum" meaning "grain." In the middle ages, Garnet was also called "karfunkel" in German, referring to the glowing red reminding of the sparks of fire.
Red Garnets with a slightly bronze colored red was highly popular as gemstone color in the 18th and 19th century. Worldwide renowned in those days were the Bohemian Garnets from the north-eastern part of the former Kingdom of Bohemia. They were used for jewelry in Victorian times. This Bohemian Garnet jewelry looks antique, with many small stones which are tightly arranged along each other like the seeds of a pomegranate.
Lore
- Garnets have been widely known for thousands of years.
- Noah used a lantern from Garnet to steer his Ark through the darkness.
- Discoverers wore Garnets for protection from evil since they were considered popular talismans by illuminating the night.
- North American Indians used red garnets as bullets, believing that they would seek blood and inflict a deadlier wound.
- Christians believed garnet symbolized Christ's sacrifice; Islamics believed it illuminated the fourth heaven.
- Garnets were thought to stop bleeding, cure inflammatory diseases, and smooth discord.
Care
Ultrasonic: Safe
Steamer: Risky if held too close to steam.
Resistance to Heat: Fair-Poor; temperature changes may cause fracturing
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