January’s Birthstone is
Garnet
Check out
our Garnet board on
Pinterest for more photos and info!
Whitney
Robinson’s “Savannah” ring, set with a rhodolite garnet.
Garnet is the traditional
birthstone for the month of January. However, red doesn’t
have to be your color of choice if you are born in this
month. The versatile garnet comes in a virtual rainbow of
colors, from the deep red Rhodolite Garnet to the vibrant
greens of the Russian Demantoid and African Tsavorite. The
oranges and browns of Spessartite and Hessonite hail from
Namibia and Sri Lanka, and the subtle pinks and purples of
the rhododendron flower are also yours to explore. Rich
orange and golden hues, striking greens, petal soft colors
of violet and lavender all await your selection.
Ring by Tom Dailing,
featuring a spessartite garnet.
The name garnet comes from the Latin "granatus" meaning,
like seeds, because garnets in rock look somewhat like
seeds in a pomegranate. In the past it was said the wearer
of a garnet would be protected in his travels and kept in
good health. Garnets have been prized as gems for over 5000
years, use of the gemstone traces its roots to the Nile
Delta in 3100 B.C., where Egyptian artisans would craft the
gemstone into beads or inlay them into hand-wrought
jewelry. In Roman times, Garnet was often used for carving.
The stone was especially popular in the 19th Century; the
dark red, Victorian garnet jewelry from that era was made
from pyrope garnets mined in Bohemia, now a part of
Czechoslovakia.
This ring features a
beautiful tsavorite garnet.
----------
In addition to
the above information from the AGTA and other sources, you
can find facts about these of gems and more at the
"Gems
and Gem Materials"
online course,
through the University of California-Berkeley's Department
of Earth and Planetary Science. The website is available
for the general public, and contains a wealth of
information for the budding gemologist and anyone
interested in learning more about gemstones. Hanna
Cook-Wallace has contributed to this site, which was
developed by Jill Banfield while teaching at the University
of Wisconsin.