Garnets Anyone?

[Gemklctr]

Just for fun, some of the many different colors of garnets.

 

[belle]

cool gemklctr! i love the colors

 

[widget]

Thanks, GK!

I remember when I thought all garnets were those dark red ones seen so often in Victorian jewelry!

What is the square, sort of peachy colored one in the bottom row?

widget

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/23/2005 11:39:21 AM
Author: widget
Thanks, GK!

I remember when I thought all garnets were those dark red ones seen so often in Victorian jewelry!

What is the square, sort of peachy colored one in the bottom row?

widget

A spessartite, as are the 3 ovals to its right. To its left is a color change garnet, not sure what family. The row above, l-r, is: 2 lemonites (yellow-green grossular), 2 demantoid (russian and US), and 2 "magic blue" color change from the find a number of years ago in Madagascar, I believe. Above that is a row of 5 different colors of what some would call tsavorite (although, unlike a certain auction site, I wouldn''t so classify the pear on the left). Above that is a malaia, a grape, a hessionite, and a mandarin (spessartite). Then a pair of oval rhodolites and an almandite (I think, but haven''t confirmed) on top.

I used to think the same, and was very surprised to find that garnet comes in almost as many colors as sapphire and tourmaline.

 

[belle]

i''m going to add the description and the picture together:

Date: 8/23/2005 1:41:47 PM
Author: GemKlctr

Date: 8/23/2005 11:39:21 AM
Author: widget
Thanks, GK!

I remember when I thought all garnets were those dark red ones seen so often in Victorian jewelry!

What is the square, sort of peachy colored one in the bottom row?

widget

A spessartite, as are the 3 ovals to its right. To its left is a color change garnet, not sure what family. The row above, l-r, is: 2 lemonites (yellow-green grossular), 2 demantoid (russian and US), and 2 ''magic blue'' color change from the find a number of years ago in Madagascar, I believe. Above that is a row of 5 different colors of what some would call tsavorite (although, unlike a certain auction site, I wouldn''t so classify the pear on the left). Above that is a malaia, a grape, a hessionite, and a mandarin (spessartite). Then a pair of oval rhodolites and an almandite (I think, but haven''t confirmed) on top.

I used to think the same, and was very surprised to find that garnet comes in almost as many colors as sapphire and tourmaline.

 

[belle]

those are really awesome
i just love garnets

 

[Gemklctr]

Thanks belle. I should have done that to begin with.

 

[louisesam]

Date: 8/23/2005 11:39:21 AM
Author: widget
Thanks, GK!

I remember when I thought all garnets were those dark red ones seen so often in Victorian jewelry!

What is the square, sort of peachy colored one in the bottom row?

widget

me too. i thought initially garnets were just red and i''d often confuse them with rubies. bad judgement on my part. didn''t realize that it could come in an array of colors. garnet isn''t exactly my fave gem, though it is my birthstone. thanks for sharing those pics GK.

 

[belle]

Date: 8/23/2005 1:51:59 PM
Author: GemKlctr
Thanks belle. I should have done that to begin with.

you''re welcome

it was fun without the names of them for a little while.....i got to guess as to what they were and then see the answers!

 

[MINE!!]

I like garnets

I LOVE GARNETS!!!

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/23/2005 2:25:12 PM
Author: MINE!!
I like garnets

I LOVE GARNETS!!!

How do you like this 6.21 Mandarin (with 1.33tcw E VS1 trilliants)? I think your avatar is spectacular.

 

[partgypsy]

you''re blowing us away with these gems!

 

[Kaleigh]

GK,
Are the green ones demantoids??? They are very pretty. My birthstone is garnet and I never liked the brownish red ones.

 

[valeria101]

There isn''t much missing! Perhaps... a star and some other colros of grossularite

But then, those are beautiful gems and you don''t need to start up a geology museum!

Thanks for posting

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/23/2005 4:44:19 PM
Author: kaleigh
GK,
Are the green ones demantoids??? They are very pretty. My birthstone is garnet and I never liked the brownish red ones.

Kaleigh,
There are 2 demantoids. They are the middle 2 gems in the second row from the bottom. The small round on the left is Russian. The more yellowish oval is from Arizona. With the recent discoveries, there are now more larger demantoids available. I think they are a very attractive stone with their unparalled (for a garnet) brilliance.

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/23/2005 4:53:23 PM
Author: valeria101
There isn''t much missing! Perhaps... a star and some other colros of grossularite

But then, those are beautiful gems and you don''t need to start up a geology museum!

Thanks for posting

Ana,
I''ve never seen a star garnet. Do you have one? That would be fascinating!

 

[belle]

i just recently saw a parcel of small star garnets. though they were small, they were amazing

here''s a pic of a star garnet......

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/23/2005 6:04:23 PM
Author: belle
i just recently saw a parcel of small star garnets. though they were small, they were amazing

here''s a pic of a star garnet......

Thanks belle. Interesting stone with that 4 pointed star. I''ll have to look around for one. It''s a shame I didn''t find out about this until after Sunday''s Gem Show in DC.

 

[belle]

i think they are pretty interesting. the ones i saw were in the 5-6mm range and had 4 rays. i think there are some with 6 rays too.

 

[Buena Girl]

Fantastic collection!!!

How rare are the "magic blue" garnets? Do they change color in different lighting?

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/24/2005 11:22:03 PM
Author: Buena Girl

Fantastic collection!!!

How rare are the ''magic blue'' garnets? Do they change color in different lighting?

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed viewing it. As for the magic blues, they are from a find a number of years ago. I believe it played out as I have not seen any on the market for some time. There never were many larger stones available, and mine are only about a half carat each. People could be hoarding the rough, like D Block tanzanite and pink Madagascar sapphires, but my sense is that it was not a very large deposit to begin with.

They do have a distinct color change among daylight, incandescent and florescent lighting. Because I just set up this display and haven''t had them out for years, I don''t recall what the colors are. I''ll have to check that out this weekend.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 8/25/2005 10:08:17 AM
Author: GemKlctr

As for the magic blues, they are from a find a number of years ago. I believe it played out as I have not seen any on the market for some time. There never were many larger stones available, and mine are only about a half carat each.

I thought the same until THIS came along. Of the original find, the largest I know of was a bit over 5cts

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/25/2005 10:36:09 AM
Author: valeria101

Date: 8/25/2005 10:08:17 AM
Author: GemKlctr

As for the magic blues, they are from a find a number of years ago. I believe it played out as I have not seen any on the market for some time. There never were many larger stones available, and mine are only about a half carat each.

I thought the same until THIS came along. Of the original find, the largest I know of was a bit over 5cts

I''ll bet he''s been sitting on that stone for a few years! I believe Multicolour is where one of my magic blues came from.

 

[belle]

Date: 8/25/2005 10:36:09 AM
Author: valeria101

Date: 8/25/2005 10:08:17 AM
Author: GemKlctr

As for the magic blues, they are from a find a number of years ago. I believe it played out as I have not seen any on the market for some time. There never were many larger stones available, and mine are only about a half carat each.

I thought the same until THIS came along. Of the original find, the largest I know of was a bit over 5cts

nice find ana....that''s a beauty!

 

[Buena Girl]

Valeria, THANK YOU for posting the link to that fabulous garnet!!!!!!! I feel the "I want it, I need it, I can''t live without it" urges

How hard are these stones to come by? I literally feel weak thinking about a color change garnet with those colors. If I was looking to buy one maybe in 2006, do you think some nice ones might be available, or should I pounce on this one? Moneywise, I would prefer to wait.

GK- If you examine your magic blue garnets in different lighting this weekend, could you let us know what you think about it? Vibrance? Difference in color? Anything like that? THANKS!!!

Here''s a pic in case anyone would like to see it without having to click the link:

 

[belle]

buena girl,
color change garnets are indeed beautiful, but the colors that they may exhibit in different lighting conditions can be sublte and very difficult to capture in a photo. if you are seriously considering one for purchase, make sure the vendor has a good return policy and look at the stone yourself to determine the exact color change properties. if you find that the stone isn''t what was represented or expected, you should be able to return it.

 

[Gemklctr]

GK- If you examine your magic blue garnets in different lighting this weekend, could you let us know what you think about it? Vibrance? Difference in color? Anything like that? THANKS!!!

Will do. I believe mine do not exhibit quite the degree of color change shown in that illustration, but it is reasonably evident as I recall.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 8/25/2005 12:00:31 PM
Author: Buena Girl

If I was looking to buy one maybe in 2006, do you think some nice ones might be available, or should I pounce on this one? Moneywise, I would prefer to wait.

It has been more than a year since I*ve heard, let alone seen anything like. So... what can I say

Most likely the color change is not quite like the picture (is it ever, in anything ? -maybe under 'very' controlled lighting) but if this is among the best color change garnets, the previous sentence applies.

There are several smaller pieces near this one at the same seller.

If this is a new source, it would probably last a couple of years, but even during the last such even (was it about 2000-2001?) there's never been a flood and the opportunity to rub two such stones over two carats did not come easy.

All, just from myexperience. Michael E or MJO would be the ones to know such things reliably.

I would reserve this and send an e-mail to Africagems (or call, if feasible) since they had a reasonably good suply a while ago and that website gets update very, very seldom. The largest color change garnet I mentioned previously was on their 'private reserve' list too.

I wouldn*t know 1000 sources where to find out whether this stone is a first or the LAST drop in the bucket.

But, either way, I can't imagine you can win by waiting. Not that the stone is cheap... but it may be a looong while befre one surfaces. And if such alternative comes from a private owner it will be even more.

Another idea would be to ask Multicolor for an alternative in a diplomatic way.

Basically... GET IT!

 

[MJO]

Hi Ana,

That color change looks great in the picture. There have been a few larger stones on the market recently. I just bought a blue to rassberry 2.5ct but paid $700/ct so this seems cheap. There is also a new find of bluish green to amethyst color that is going for $450/ct for 1ct stones and $800 or so for 3ct stones but the green isn''t that great.

 

[Buena Girl]

Oh, that stone is so tempting, but I just don''t have a spare $800 this month

Maybe it will still be available later this year?

valeria, that website (multicolour.com) is really cool! Thanks for posting about it. I''ll have to mark it as a fav. They had loads of color change garnets, but most of them are so teeny tiny and not very pretty colors. I hope they eventually get more of the magic blue stones.

MJO- Thanks for the additional info!