Green Garnet Gems
Garnet can be found in a variety of colors other than red. Green garnet gemstones are among the most valuable garnet colors and include demantoid garnet; the rarest and most valuable of 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 difficult to find and is typically found only in smaller sizes.

Another stunning green garnet variety is tsavorite garnet, which was discovered in 1967 by British geologist Campbell Bridges in the bush along the frontier between Kenya and Tanzania, where he found potato-shaped stones containing beautiful green crystals. Tsavorite (or tsavolite) garnet is named after its occurrence near the famous Tsavo National Park in Kenya. Tsavorite is only found in these two countries, though the most important deposits are the ones in Kenya.

The colors of tsavorite garnet range from pale green to deep forest green and can sometimes rival high quality emeralds. With a hardness of 6.5-7.5 on the Mohs scale tsavorite garnet causes no problems at cutting, setting and wearing. It is well suited for "invisible settings", where stones are set closely joined. Due to its high brilliance, tsavorite garnet gets mostly a facet cut. Large specimens are rare. It's a wonderful stone for small, discreet rings or any other piece of fine jewelry.

Tsavorite's wonderful colors have an invigorating and refreshing effect on the eyes. Its bright and vivid green, excellent wearability and high brilliance at reasonable prices make it an excellent value gemstone.

Another garnet that can occur in green is Mali garnet. Like rhodolite, Mali is one of the hybrid garnets. Where rhodolite is a mixture of almandine and pyrope, Mali is a mixture of grossular and andradite garnets.

The name Mali derives from the West African country of Mali where this garnet was first discovered in 1994. Mali is still the only source for this rare garnet. Though Mali garnet is predominantly grossular by composition, the presence of andradite is responsible for its superb dispersion or fire, reminiscent of the most famous andradite garnet, demantoid.