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Have you guys heard of these stones? Lotus garnets

cats_sapphire

Rough_Rock
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here is a link. They are really pretty. I have a collection of rhodolite garnets, orange garnets and red garnets. I have an opal surrounded by green garnets. I’m thinking of getting one of these. They are pretty! Has anyone heard of these before?
https://www.parlegems.com/blog/discover-lotus-garnet/
 

lilmosun

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I'm not an expert but don't see anything different from orange-pink mahenge garnets sold by others. They are pretty stones and I've been told this hue is the most in demand (the more saturated pink-purple ones work better for my skin tone) but the only thing I see exclusive to this particular vendor is calling them "Lotus Garnets"

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/mahenge-garnets.223898/
 

voce

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Those actually don't look like mahenge garnets to me. To me Mahenge connotates neon pink color. I have seen garnets with a pink to peachy shade being sold as malaya garnet.
 

lilmosun

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Those actually don't look like mahenge garnets to me. To me Mahenge connotates neon pink color. I have seen garnets with a pink to peachy shade being sold as malaya garnet.

Hi Voce - I don't believe mahenge garnets, which can look a lot like malaya garnets, have the neon pink color that mahenge spinels do. Although I do think that the popularity and associated prices of Mahenge garnets was in part due to the name/locale association.
 
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Rare gem lover

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Hi Voce - I don't believe mahenge garnets, which can look a lot like malaya garnets, have the neon pink color that mahenge spinels do. Although I do think that the popularity and associated prices of Mahenge garnets was in part due to the name/locale association.

I’m with you on this. I wish mahenge garnets were the same, and in very nice lighting they can be bright but not neon. Here’s a picture of my 5 mm nicest mahenge garnet. It’s bright and lovely next to my Tourmaline but not neon. Also Attached a super soft coloured mahenge spinel too for reference. That thing isn’t even as bright as my other spinels but still very sparkly! So I think mahenge garnets Just benefited from the spinels from the same region and they can come in any sort of pink shade. Some are very peachy and not pure pink. 5C84B5F8-7898-4CB2-8650-3DD6B1E08A17.png D7D1E019-3678-4A84-AB99-AA275CAE614C.png
 

Rare gem lover

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here is a link. They are really pretty. I have a collection of rhodolite garnets, orange garnets and red garnets. I have an opal surrounded by green garnets. I’m thinking of getting one of these. They are pretty! Has anyone heard of these before?
https://www.parlegems.com/blog/discover-lotus-garnet/

Im afraid it’s just marketing. They just make it up. They even call a nice unheated tanzanite peacock tanzanite. They even claim exclusive supply which frankly is blatant nonsense.
 

voce

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Hi Voce - I don't believe mahenge garnets, which can look a lot like malaya garnets, have the neon pink color that mahenge spinels do. Although I do think that the popularity and associated prices of Mahenge garnets was in part due to the name/locale association.
Omg you're totally right. I was thinking Mahenge spinels! Actually, I think Mahenge garnets and malaya garnets could be more or less the same thing since I asked Yvonne about Mahenge garnet and she asked me if I meant malaya garnet instead.
 

arglthesheep

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Mahenge is a region where the stones come from and Malaya is a kind of tradename. There are a few interpretations where it comes from, but normally they mean the "offcolor" garnets (as they were supposed to in the past) with hues of orange and lighter colors.
So Mahenge garnets can be also malayagarnets. Some sell them as Mahenge garnets when color is very good as they demand higher prices, but from gemological point of view all of them are mixtures from almandine, pyrop and spessartine and sometimes a part of grossular, which many call pyralspite. IN the past the lighter coloures werent demanded very much, so they had to think of other interesting names then just garnet to sell them better. In my opinion these lighter tones are great pieces and and make the garnet group far more attractive then only red / purple ones (which are also pretty :mrgreen::mrgreen:) . Also they are rarer to be found in these shades. BUt in the end its a game of taste and what you like more.
 

Anne111

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I guess it is the flair of re-naming a product like pyrope-spessartate with something more poetic. Imagine, you get asked about your new pendant, and it's much more appealing to say 'this is a lotus garnet' than a naming a chemical component nobody every heard of.
 

Lisa Loves Shiny

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I think they are quite pretty. There is a beautiful brownish pink Lotus garnet ring that I have saved in my Ebay list. It is going for about $100 over scrap. So tempted but have not pulled the trigger.
 

Rare gem lover

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I think they are quite pretty. There is a beautiful brownish pink Lotus garnet ring that I have saved in my Ebay list. It is going for about $100 over scrap. So tempted but have not pulled the trigger.


Ooh buy and share pics ☺️
 

arglthesheep

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I guess it is the flair of re-naming a product like pyrope-spessartate with something more poetic. Imagine, you get asked about your new pendant, and it's much more appealing to say 'this is a lotus garnet' than a naming a chemical component nobody every heard of.

Sure, thats normally the idea. To give something a name to make it attractive or sound more expensive then just a gemological variety name. Same with tanzanite, tsavorite and many more we all know and use. Its ok with me, but if you are not into the gemstones you have to be careful not just to buy the tradename and pay a premium for it, then the gem itself, as most of the tradenames are invented by someone and are not defined expressions. So a big open door for misunderstanding/misinterpretation here...
 

arkieb1

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Lotus garnet is a type of Almandine, pyrope and spessartine garnet found between the Umba Valley all the way to Mahenge. I believe largely it's a marketing term used to get more money for pretty looking light pink to peach colour changing garnets.

I have a large "Lotus Garnet" bought from an African gemstone dealers own collection he found the stone way before anyone called them "Lotus Garnets." It's a really odd stone it colour changes from a pink to a peach to a light lavender colour and tests mostly as Almandine with a dash of other types of garnets as noted in the description thrown in. Sometimes it looks quite purple and other times pink other times peach. I can't say it looks like a Pad sapphire it's got way more purple in it at times than that, it's uniquely unlike anything else. Most of the stones marketed for sale as "Lotus garnets" are smaller and lighter in colour than this one. I only have one bad photo of it;

Lotus Garnet 1.JPG
 

voce

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Lotus garnet is a type of Almandine, pyrope and spessartine garnet found between the Umba Valley all the way to Mahenge. I believe largely it's a marketing term used to get more money for pretty looking light pink to peach colour changing garnets.

I have a large "Lotus Garnet" bought from an African gemstone dealers own collection he found the stone way before anyone called them "Lotus Garnets." It's a really odd stone it colour changes from a pink to a peach to a light lavender colour and tests mostly as Almandine with a dash of other types of garnets as noted in the description thrown in. Sometimes it looks quite purple and other times pink other times peach. I can't say it looks like a Pad sapphire it's got way more purple in it at times than that, it's uniquely unlike anything else. Most of the stones marketed for sale as "Lotus garnets" are smaller and lighter in colour than this one. I only have one bad photo of it;

Lotus Garnet 1.JPG
I can't see the purple in this picture. It does look like a pad to me except it could be too saturated in color to be pad.
 

arkieb1

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I can't see the purple in this picture. It does look like a pad to me except it could be too saturated in color to be pad.

In real life it changes from an orangey pink pad colour to a lavender purple colour to a pink. That pic was taken in the shade outside, inside it's more orangey pink, in other light like indoors under lights it's more purple. It's a weird stone unlike any other garnets I've owned and too much purple and lavender to look like a Pad, except sometimes you get into the right lighting situation and it's very Pad like but most of the time, not so much.
 

voce

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In real life it changes from an orangey pink pad colour to a lavender purple colour to a pink. That pic was taken in the shade outside, inside it's more orangey pink, in other light like indoors under lights it's more purple. It's a weird stone unlike any other garnets I've owned and too much purple and lavender to look like a Pad, except sometimes you get into the right lighting situation and it's very Pad like but most of the time, not so much.
It's unique and pretty, and I trust you on the color, it's just that for me sometimes I don't know whether to call what I see lavender or pink. :oops2: I've seen many a stone on Etsy described as purple when I simply see a pink. I can tell for sure that magenta has some purple, but telling "pink" and "purple" apart in light tone stones is just a little challenging. (For example, in the emoticon above I'd call that purple, though it could just be my eyes playing tricks on me and blending the red in with the pink? This frustrates me even though I know in the grand scheme of things it's not an important point.)
 

arkieb1

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It's unique and pretty, and I trust you on the color, it's just that for me sometimes I don't know whether to call what I see lavender or pink. :oops2: I've seen many a stone on Etsy described as purple when I simply see a pink. I can tell for sure that magenta has some purple, but telling "pink" and "purple" apart in light tone stones is just a little challenging. (For example, in the emoticon above I'd call that purple, though it could just be my eyes playing tricks on me and blending the red in with the pink? This frustrates me even though I know in the grand scheme of things it's not an important point.)

I hope no one minds me showing you. I stood it up vertically outside and got a great photo to show you what I mean by the colours in it, the bottom half is in shadow it's not that dark IRL but see how the middle is lavender and purple and the top left corner is a true PAD colour; Lotus Garnet 2.JPG
Sometimes it's a true peachy PAD colour;
Lotus Garnet 3.JPG
Sometimes it's a pink sapphire or a true pink colour; Lotus Garnet4.JPG
And sometimes it's (sorry this one is out of focus) the colour of a lavender spinel or has the purple;
Lotus Garnet 5.JPG
 

voce

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@arkieb1 thanks for showing me. I can clearly see the purple in the first picture, whereas if you hadn't told me that was lavender in the stone, I would've said it looked like a cool pink. English wasn't my first language, and growing up, I always associated lavender with the shade below.
upload_2018-8-30_22-30-48.jpeg
 

arkieb1

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@arkieb1 thanks for showing me. I can clearly see the purple in the first picture, whereas if you hadn't told me that was lavender in the stone, I would've said it looked like a cool pink. English wasn't my first language, and growing up, I always associated lavender with the shade below.
upload_2018-8-30_22-30-48.jpeg

Yes it is pink but it has strong flashes/sections/ secondary colours that shade exactly too in some lighting (see the top middle edge of the stone in the last photo), it's a fascinating colour changer. Sometimes lavender spinels (not garnets) are paler and less saturated than that but still what they call lavender and sometimes they have more pink and also colour shift to a paler version of your plant.
 

cats_sapphire

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Lotus garnet is a type of Almandine, pyrope and spessartine garnet found between the Umba Valley all the way to Mahenge. I believe largely it's a marketing term used to get more money for pretty looking light pink to peach colour changing garnets.

I have a large "Lotus Garnet" bought from an African gemstone dealers own collection he found the stone way before anyone called them "Lotus Garnets." It's a really odd stone it colour changes from a pink to a peach to a light lavender colour and tests mostly as Almandine with a dash of other types of garnets as noted in the description thrown in. Sometimes it looks quite purple and other times pink other times peach. I can't say it looks like a Pad sapphire it's got way more purple in it at times than that, it's uniquely unlike anything else. Most of the stones marketed for sale as "Lotus garnets" are smaller and lighter in colour than this one. I only have one bad photo of it;

Lotus Garnet 1.JPG

That stone is gorgeous! I think you guys are spot on, it’s just marketing hype. I seem to have collected too many garnets, as i just love the colors they come in, I’ll be selling some of them. Got to stop looking at and buying garnets!:eek2:
 

lilmosun

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I seem to have collected too many garnets, as i just love the colors they come in, I’ll be selling some of them. Got to stop looking at and buying garnets!:eek2:

Addictive, aren't they? :lol:
 
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