In our newsletter this month:

   Rare Garnets
   New in Gems
   Staff Selections
   Gemstones Worth Knowing
   Customer Questions

Garnet has historically been highly regarded for its very good hardness (7-7.5 on the Mohs scale) and great brilliance. The height of garnet popularity was undoubtedly the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe, where Bohemian garnet jewelry was all the rage.

The popular image of garnet is that of an inexpensive dark red gem, often with a distinct brownish tone. But while much garnet certainly falls in that category, there are some rarer varieties of garnet that have stunning colors and are highly sought after by collectors. These rare varieties of garnet have been responsible for a major resurgence in the garnet market.

Spessartite, the distinctive orange-red garnet, is colored by manganese and, in its redder versions, by iron as well. Found in Nigeria, Mozambique and Namibia, this garnet has been in good supply recently, a situation which experts warn is likely to be temporary. Many different grades of spessartite are currently available, with moderately included material selling for attractive prices. But very clean mandarin orange spessartite is quite valuable, especially in larger sizes.

Tsavorite, a rare grossular garnet, departs even further from the traditional red garnet. Tsavorite is a recent discovery, found for the first time in the 1960's in the border area where Kenya and Tanzania meet. Fine tsavorites are an intense medium green color; a few resemble fine emeralds. Tsavorites may be moderately included; but the finest qualities are eye clean. Large tsavorites are quite rare, even stones up to two carats are not abundant. Tsavorites range in color from a light green to very dark green.

Like so many colored gemstones, tsavorite was popularized by Tiffany, who started a special campaign in 1974 to promote it. But the promotion only increased the rarity of this already rare gem. At one time tsavorite was being mined from 40 different areas throughout Tanzania and Kenya. Today only four mining ventures are still producing commercial quantities.

Rhodolite is a beautiful pink to violet red garnet which was named after the rhododendron flower. Rhodolite falls somewhere in between almandine and pyrope chemically; it is not considered a specific garnet subgroup in itself but denotes garnets of the rhododendron color. Top quality pink rhodolites are mined in Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Large sizes are rare, but we recently cut some very large rhodolite pieces over 10 carats from some high quality rough stone from Tanzania.

In addition to spessartite, tsavorite and rhodolite there are a few other rare garnets that we always look for, but rarely find. Demantoid garnet is another green garnet, slightly more yellow/brown than tsavorite, but with a very high refractive index and excellent dispersion. Found only in Russia and Namibia, it is extremely rare. Another very rare garnet is a color change garnet which is a mixture of spessartite and pyrope garnets. It has a dramatic color change from blue to violet that is more intense than the more expensive alexandrite. Recently we were lucky enough to find a few specimens.

Our buyers are in the market every day finding the best values for our customers. Here are some of the excellent buys we've made in the last few weeks:

• Andesine from the Congo: It's a rare event when we buy a type of gemstone that we've never stocked before. Andesine, a recent introduction to the gems market, is a type of feldspar similar to labradorite and sunstone. We've bought some very nice pieces in a lovely champagne tone.
  
  
• Tourmaline from Mozambique: We have found a new source for Mozambique tourmaline and have been buying some outstanding pieces in a marvellous variety of colors, from bronze and green to raspberry red. This is probably the best stock of tourmaline we have ever had at GemSelect.
  
  
• Yellow Golden Citrine from Brazil: We've just bought some new stock in fine Brazilian citrine, mainly trillion cut in sizes between 3 and 6 carats. Very good color and excellent Portuguese cut on these.
  
  
• Top Grade Spinel from Tanzania: We've recently found some of the finest spinel we have ever offered at GemSelect. We've bought a wonderful range of really outstanding colors, especially violet, blue and pink. And there are some very well cut pieces in larger sizes (2-4 carats). You'll also find some amazing electric pink red pieces that are really spectacular.
  
  
• Swiss Blue Zircon from Cambodia: It's been a long time since we found blue zircon this fine. Excellent color saturation and sizes up to 5.5 carats. These are all very well cut and have excellent brilliance, and most pieces are VVS clarity.
  
  
• Tsavorite Garnet from Tanzania: We've just purchased a small number of very high grade tsavorite garnet from Tanzania. Tsavorite, like emerald, typically has some inclusions. But these pieces are exceptionally clean, and they have a brilliance and sparkle that ordinary tsavorite just can't match. You'll find pieces in light green and forest green, mainly in sizes between 2 and 3 carats. We do have a few very special pieces in the 3 and 4 carat size, and one extraordinary gem at over 9 carats!
  
  
• Top Grade Rhodolite Garnet from Tanzania: We have cut a number of pieces of a very high grade pinkish red rhodolite garnet from Tanzania. These have the pinkish-purple-red that is the most coveted color in rhodolite, with excellent clarity and luster. All the pieces are impressively large, with several pieces over 10 carats.
  
  
• Fluorite from Namibia: This is the best fluorite stock we've had in a long time, with many new pieces in green, blue, violet and bronze. An interesting range of cuts and shapes as well, with a number of pieces in the popular concave cut.
  
  

Each month our staff selects some of their favorite gemstones from our inventory. This month we feature some large pink spinel from Tanzania. Spinel over 2 carats are rare, but spinel over 2 carats in top pink are very rare indeed.

Each month we focus on one of the lesser known gemstones. This month's featured stone is Zircon.

Zircon does not really count as a little-known gemstone, though some people confuse it with cubic zirconia, a synthetic diamond simulant. But zircon is a unique gem that deserves to be better known. The oldest known zircons are from Western Australia, with an age of 4.4 billion years. The name probably comes from the Persian word "zargun" which means "gold-colored," although zircon comes in a wide range of different colors. Untreated zircon is in fact gold or brown, though the most popular zircon color is blue, produced by heat treatment.

Most blue zircon come in a pastel blue, but some exceptional gems have a bright blue color. Due to its extremely high refractive index and strong dispersion, zircon has great brilliance and intensive fire. The luster is vitreous to a brilliant sheen. Although relatively hard (rating 6.5-7.5 on Mohs scale) zircon is somewhat brittle and therefore sensitive to knocks and pressure.

Zircon is also notable for being one of the densest gemstones, which means that it will look smaller than other varieties of the same weight. Most fine zircon is mined in northern Cambodia.

For more information see our Zircon Info Page.

Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions to help@gemselect.com, with "Newsletter question" in the Subject line. These month we have some questions about buying and selling gemstones.

A final note -- If you send us email, please be assured that we answer all our email very promptly, 6 days a week. But we sometimes have problems with spam filters on the receiving end, so please adjust the settings on your mail client so you can receive mail from help@gemselect.com.

Happy gem hunting!

Your friends at GemSelect