JANUARY BIRTHSTONE | GARNET

Garnet is not a single mineral, but a group that consists of a range of closely related minerals. They all have certain properties in common; namely they all have a cubic crystal form with a hardness of between 6.5 - 7.5 on the MOHS scale. 

Commonly thought of as rusty-red, the Garnet comes in many different varieties and colours - red, pink, yellow, orange, brown, green.



Different varieties of Garnet

Clockwise from top right: Hessonite: yellowish orange to orange-brown variety of Grossular garnet, sometimes called the 'cinnamon stone'. Demantoid: green variety of Andradite garnet, regularly used by Faberge in some of his designs. Rhodolite: rose-red to purple form of the Pyrope garnet.

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