May 21
Andradite, garnet group, Livorno, Italy, photo by Bonifazi Marco
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Andradite, garnet group, Livorno, Italy, photo by Bonifazi Marco
Look at this little guy! He’s a cool-as-heck stone called malaya garnet. Malaya, sometimes known as umbalite, is a variety of pyrope garnet containing all three pyralspite species - pyrope, almandine, and spessartine. He’s also known as Lotus Garnet because of his lovely lotus-pink hue.
Leuco-Garnet (or colorless Garnet).
Gooseberry Garnet (Hydrogrossular)
Mineral Of The Day #128: Demantoid
Mohs Hardness Scale: 6.5 Category: nesosilicate mineral, garnet group Formula: Ca3Fe2Si3O12
Fun Facts:
Demantoid is the green gemstone variety of the mineral andradite.
Demantoid was named after the archaic German word demant which means "diamond," an allusion to its very high brilliance.
It was discovered in 1853 in Russia's Ural Mountains.
The famous Peter Carl Fabregé made jewelry with them. Demantoids were one of his favorite gemstones!
It is the most expensive and rare of the garnet gemstones!
Happy Gemstone Thursday!
Mineral Of The Day #108: Grossularite
Mohs Hardness Scale: 6.5-7 Category: Silicate mineral, garnet group
Formula: Ca3Al2(SiO4)3
Fun Facts:
Grossularite (a.k.a. grossular) is one of the six main varieties of garnet.
It is named for the green color of gooseberries (ribes grossularium) because the original specimens were this color!
A highly sought after variety of gem garnet is the fine green grossular garnet from Kenya and Tanzania called "tsavorite."
Happy St. Patrick's Day AND Gemstone Thursday!