Garnet family （large number of pictures and continuously updated）

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The garnet family is an extremely large family. According to the different chemical composition, it can be divided into six categories: Almandine, pyrope, spessartine, Andradite, Grossular, and uvarovite.
Since the chemical composition of categories cannot been strictly divided, and the addition of different elements, more varieties have been derived. forming garnets of different colors.I made an association table of the relationships between different varieties of garnet and will post samples in this thread，

• Relationships between different varieties of garnet
• 

 

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一、Andradite

There are three varieties of Andradite: Topazolite、Demantoid and melanite.

Topazolite is yellow color Andradite. Demantoid is a chromium-containing Andradite, and melanite is a variant of titanium-containing Andradite.

Demantoid is the most famous Andradite, The origin may be Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Namibia, Madagascar, etc. They have different colors.

Demantoid from the Ural Mountains of Russia is the most precious. Russian demantoid has a typical bright chrome-green color. Because it contains chromium, it is red under the CHELSEA COLOUR FILTER

Demantoid and Tsavorite are sometimes very similar, but the refractive index of Demantoid is z 1.81. If it is less than this value, consider Tsavorite or Mali garnet.

Topazolite is actually very rare, even rarer than Demantoid, but Topazolite is not as eye-catching as Demantoid, so the attention is not high.

More less people know melanite because the appearance of melanite is hard to like.


Demantoid from russia
2.14ct 、1.8ct 0.9ct X2

 

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Demantoid from Africa (Namibia, Madagascar) and Iran

 

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Topazolite and Symbiote of Topazolite/Demantoid from russia

 

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二、Grossular

Pure Grossular is colorless, and the addition of other elements will form different colors. The green hue is due to the addition of chromium and vanadium, and the yellow and red are due to iron. Some special cases of red may also be caused by chromium.

The most famous of Grossular is Tsavorite, as well as the lighter merelani garnet , both of which are chromium and vanadium containing Grossular.

hessonite is also very famous Grossular. hessonite is a mixture of Grossular and almandine. The higher the proportion of almandine, the darker and redder the color. Pure Grossular is actually colorless,

1、 colorless Grossular 14.75ct

 

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2、Tsavorite

 

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merelani （ Mint） garnet

Mint garnet should belong to the light-colored tsavorite. However, some origins have some characteristics that are different from tsavorite, such as merelani mint garnet, which changes body color under UV light and has strong fluorescence

 

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Hessonite
Hessonite is an iron-containing Grossular, and its color varies from light yellow to orange-red according to the iron content

 

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Hydrogrossular
The hydrogrossular also belongs to the Grossular family, but there are few crystal hydrogrossular, usually in the aggregate form of hydrogrossular – idocrase

 

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三. Spessartine

Pure spessartine garnet may not be found in nature. Usually, what we call spessartine is a mixture of spessartine and almandine. The higher the proportion of almandine, the more red the color

Fanta garnet and Mandarin garnet are more famous spessartine garnets, Fanta garnet is yellowish orange, and Mandarin garnet is reddish orange.

Fanta and Mandarin are only the names of certain specific colors in spessartine garnets. Most spessartine garnets cannot be called Fanta or Mandarin. Only bright and darkness spessartine can be called Fanta or Mandarin

30+ct Mandarin



10+ct Fanta



Spessartine、 Fanta、 Mandarin

 

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Almandine- pyrope

Almandine is the most common garnet. It has a very positive red color. The color is very beautiful under strong light, but the color is very dark if the light is insufficient. Almandine is a veritable sunny gem. The iron element in almandine is a famous fluorescent killer, so almandine usually does not have any fluorescence reaction




Pyrope

The pure Pyrope may not be found in nature, and iron elements are usually mixed in the Pyrope to form a mixed species of almandine-Pyrope, this mixed species also called rhodolite. Violet-red garnets are usually a mixture of almandine-Pyrope. The proportion of almandine is high, the color is reddish, while high proportion of Pyrope, the color is purple.

Rhodolite(almandine-Pyrope) is not a rare but very beautiful garnet

 

[T L]

Amazing thread. How educational, and such eye candy. You have a world class collection of gems, thank you for sharing!

 

[Nosean]

All these are yours?

Impressive collection and a nearly 15 ct Leucogarnet is obscene…

I really enjoy your topic! Simply stunnin.

Maybe this is interesting for you…

Marlow on Instagram: "Pyrope from Italy, Dora Maira Massif, Brossasco. This was my Highlight in Munichshow! I was hunting these extremely rare garnets for 20 years. Very high Pyrope content and low RI. Read Fall 2001 Gems & Gemology for more infos. #

142 likes, 3 comments - marlowgems0711 on November 14, 2021: "Pyrope from Italy, Dora Maira Massif, Brossasco. This was my Highlight in Munichshow! I was hunting these extremely rare garnets for 20 years. Very high Pyrope content and low RI. Read Fall 2001 Gems & Gemology for more infos. #garnet...

www.instagram.com

The purest Pyrope found in nature - from an ultra high pressure area in the western Italian alps. RI is extremely low - the lighter the color the lower the RI. Deeper color is a bit more almandine.

The crystals are in the size of a golf ball to orange but only small parts are clean. The vendor I bought them from is an Italian gentleman how collects them, cuts them and offers Italian jade too.

 

[maru8888777]

I love your threads @landscape! thank you for sharing your collection and knowledge with us. I especially love your threads on spinels (my favorite stone), but would love to see your sapphires too...

 

[Garnetgirl]

Thank you for the wonderful information and the beautiful gem photos!

 

[Neptune]

This is such a treat, thank you.

 

[landscape]

Amazing thread. How educational, and such eye candy. You have a world class collection of gems, thank you for sharing!

Thanks, I will post all garnet varieties in this thread

 

[landscape]

All these are yours?

Impressive collection and a nearly 15 ct Leucogarnet is obscene…

I really enjoy your topic! Simply stunnin.

Maybe this is interesting for you…

Marlow on Instagram: "Pyrope from Italy, Dora Maira Massif, Brossasco. This was my Highlight in Munichshow! I was hunting these extremely rare garnets for 20 years. Very high Pyrope content and low RI. Read Fall 2001 Gems & Gemology for more infos. #

142 likes, 3 comments - marlowgems0711 on November 14, 2021: "Pyrope from Italy, Dora Maira Massif, Brossasco. This was my Highlight in Munichshow! I was hunting these extremely rare garnets for 20 years. Very high Pyrope content and low RI. Read Fall 2001 Gems & Gemology for more infos. #garnet...

www.instagram.com

The purest Pyrope found in nature - from an ultra high pressure area in the western Italian alps. RI is extremely low - the lighter the color the lower the RI. Deeper color is a bit more almandine.

The crystals are in the size of a golf ball to orange but only small parts are clean. The vendor I bought them from is an Italian gentleman how collects them, cuts them and offers Italian jade too.

Yes, it's all in my collection, garnets are interesting gemstones with a lot of unexpected exceptions.

 

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I love your threads @landscape! thank you for sharing your collection and knowledge with us. I especially love your threads on spinels (my favorite stone), but would love to see your sapphires too...

Thank you, I will take the time to take pictures and share them

 

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Thank you for the wonderful information and the beautiful gem photos!

thanks

 

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This is such a treat, thank you.

thanks

 

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Continue to update special garnet varieties today

 

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Malaya garnet

Malaya is a mixture of Pyrope -spessartine. The color is between Pyrope and spessartine. The typical color is orange pink. Malaya is not dark and has a bright and ambiguous tone. It should be noted that some Malaya has very similar color with hessonite, which can only be distinguished by the refractive index. The refractive index of Malaya is close to Pyrope and much lower than hessonite

 

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Mali Garnet

Mali garnet is a mixed species of Grossular and Andradite, most of which have a brown tone. The color of Mali Garnet is in the range of yellow to green, and there will never be red-purple Mali Garnet. The refractive index of Mali Garnet is much larger than Grossular, which can be used to distinguish green Grossular like Tsavorite or mint garnet（merelani）

Colorless Mali garnet is very rare, and it has a large refractive index to distinguish it from other colorless garnet。

 

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Continue to update Color change garnet and color Change Demantoid tomorrow

 

[icy_jade]

Continue to update Color change garnet and color Change Demantoid tomorrow

Such beautiful examples!

I only started to really appreciate garnets after I had my daughter (and it’s her birthstone) and realized that it’s such a wonderfully colorful stone.

 

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Color change garnet

Color-change garnets are divided into two categories,

One is the color-change garnet from Bekily, Madagascar. This garnet has a strong color-changing effect. It is green and blue under white light, purple-red under yellow light, and gray-blue-green under natural light. This kind of color-change garnet is a mixture of spessartine and almandine, which has a color-changing effect under the action of vanadium.

 

[Nosean]

Malaya garnet

Malaya is a mixture of Pyrope -spessartine. The color is between Pyrope and spessartine. The typical color is orange pink. Malaya is not dark and has a bright and ambiguous tone. It should be noted that some Malaya has very similar color with hessonite, which can only be distinguished by the refractive index. The refractive index of Malaya is close to Pyrope and much lower than hessonite

Think you mean spessartine - Hessonite is a grossular with a lower RI than Malaya. You can distinguish spessartine and malaya from hessonite by using a Neodym magnet too.

 

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The other is a mixture of spessartine and Pyrope, because the addition of vanadium has a color-change effect. In fact, it is Malaya with a color-change effect. This color-change malaya is yellow-green-brown in white light, bright rose red under yellow light, and golden brown and pink brown in natural light. This is a kind of garnet that is not dark under natural light

8.5Ct IF

 

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color Change Demantoid

Most of Demantoid has a slight color changing effect. Only a change of color intensity over the cold and warm colors can be called color Change Demantoid.
The difference between color Change demantoid and color Change garnet is the refractive index

The reference is a green zircon used to contrast the color change of the demantoid

color Change Demantoid 4.66ct