| January Birthstones
If you were born in the month of January, you really have only one choice in birthstones -- garnet. However, the garnet family is incredibly diverse, encompassing an amazing range of colors. Although the color red occurs most frequently, there are also garnets showing different shades of green, pale to bright yellow, fiery orange and fine earth- and umbra-shades. The only garnet color which is rarely seen is blue, though some blue garnets have recently been discovered in Madagascar.
All of the garnets have excellent gemstone characteristics. They have very good hardness, with a rating of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. They are also very brilliant gems, with a refractive index about the same as sapphire and ruby. And garnet is one of the few gemstone varieties that is never treated in any way. So when you buy a garnet you'll get a completely natural gemstone.
There are in fact 8 different varieties of garnet available in the market, ranging from the inexpensive pyrope and almandite to the exclusive tsavorite and demantoid. All of these garnet varieties have a similar crystal structure, but they vary slightly in their chemical composition. Here is a brief tour of your choices in garnet for your January birthstone.
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Pyrope Garnet:
The classic inexpensive red garnet, frequently with brown or orange tint. Large stones tend to be very dark and the best color is found in the smaller sizes. |
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Almandine Garnet:
Another deep red inexpensive garnet, often with a slight violet tint. A pure deep red is the most desirable color. |
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Rhodolite Garnet:
A very attractive violet-red, with a lighter tone than pyrope and almandine. More expensive than the dark red garnets, but not as pricey as spessartite, tsavorite or demantoid. |
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Hessonite Garnet:
A brown-red variety of garnet often known as cinnamon stone. Colored by traces of manganese and iron, hessonite is one of the nine planetary gems in the Vedic tradition. |
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Spessartite Garnet:
An orange to red-orange garnet with exceptional brilliance. The best specimens have a mandarin orange hue and are popular for high-end jewelry. |
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Grossularite Garnet:
A garnet species that includes hessonite and tsavorite. The ordinary grossularites are an attractive yellow to golden green. |
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Tsavorite Garnet:
One of the rarest garnets, tsavorite is an pale green to emerald green colored by traces of chromium and vanadium. The finest examples rival fine emerald in color, but are superior to emerald in hardness and brilliance. |
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Demantoid Garnet:
Rarest and most valuable of all the garnets. The name demantoid means "diamond-like luster" and demantoid garnet is one of the few gemstones with a luster and brilliance similar to diamond. Found in green to emerald green, demantoid garnet is very rare and is typically found only in smaller sizes. |
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First Published: November-26-2008
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