Show us your green garnets!

[NKOTB]

I have had many, sold off several (some that I shouldn't have, but alas...), and these are my four current ones. While the umbrella disclaimer for this thread is that greens don't always come through in photos as they do IRL, I would still love to drool over the various shades and shapes! I know there are some serious beauties out there, bring on the eye candy!

2.49 ct oval cut by Gene, 4.1 ct pear from Prima (inclusions in both of these aren't bothersome in person), 1.9 ct mint from Peter Torraca, mint cushion from Gene (I think around 1.5 ct?).

 

[jstarfireb]

I have 3 tsavorites, a Merelani mint, 2 Namibian and 1 Russian demantoid (and a partridge in a pear tree). Used to have a Mali, which I sold, and I also sold a second mint that was too similar to my newer mint to justify keeping.

Quick pic I snapped of all of them...really washed out and not a good pic at all, but it's the best I could get. Left to right: Lisa Elser tsavorite, Gene tsavorite, Barry mint, tiny Russian demantoid, princess cut tsavorite, Gene Namibian demantoid, and in the gem box is a Jeff Davies Namibian demantoid. Pic doesn't do any of them justice except maybe the Lisa Elser, which is showing up nearly as vibrant and bright as it is in real life.

 

[agingsparkle]

Just bought my first, a demantoid from Madagascar from Kosnar Gem Co. Can't wait to get it, it looks lovely! They're very kindly cutting a matching imperial topaz for me, so I won't have it for a little while -- I'm making a ring with birthstones for both of my (mostly grown) children, and am using somewhat unusual colors of their birthstones that match their eyes & personalities. Enjoying the eye candy!

 

[mtsapphirelovingannie]

Great thread! I don't have any green garnets but I like to look.

jstarefireb, I really like all of your setting choices.

 

[OTL]

I have too many green garnets! A lot of them, I've sold.
These are what I left with.
Ever since I started collecting I've been pretty lucky in this department. It started with this mint heart

 

[OTL]

A lot of tsavorites.....

 

[OTL]

And these .... That'll be all garnets that I'm left with for now

 

[OTL]

Oh, I completely forgot this pair...alreay in earrings..total 2.xct each one slightly above 1ct

 

[minousbijoux]

I have had many, sold off several (some that I shouldn't have, but alas...), and these are my four current ones. While the umbrella disclaimer for this thread is that greens don't always come through in photos as they do IRL, I would still love to drool over the various shades and shapes! I know there are some serious beauties out there, bring on the eye candy!

2.49 ct oval cut by Gene, 4.1 ct pear from Prima (inclusions in both of these aren't bothersome in person), 1.9 ct mint from Peter Torraca, mint cushion from Gene (I think around 1.5 ct?).

Of course they are all beautiful and I'm sure I've told you that a gazillion times. But you know what I'm struck by in your pics? How varied they look by shape - the 2.49 oval looks so big! I mean, I KNOW your 4.1 ct is a very big, but the oval holds its own next to it. This is probably true of ovals in general, I just didn't notice until seeing such great comparison photos. Love your collection.

 

[lovedogs]

Wow I love this thread! I've never owned a green garnet, but this makes me want one!!

 

[PrecisionGem]

Green garnets and chrome tourmaline have to be the hardest stones to photograph. I have tried different camera's, the iPhone and nothing seems to show the intense green you see in real life. A really nice tsavorite or chrome tourmaline can only be fully appreciated in person. These are my favorite stones, unfortunately good rough has become very scarce and expensive the past few years.

 

[Acinom]

Oooh! How gorgeous. I did not realise green garnets are THAT pretty. Thanks for starting this thread.

 

[katharath]

Oh how I love these gems, definitely going to enjoy this thread!! So many beautiful gems here already, love all of your pics.

I've also owned and sold a decent amount of them, lol (you can add me to the club - I will also only post pics of my current greens). I used to collect both tsavs and mints, but I eventually realized that I prefer mints overall. I still want to get another tsav at some point, though. I sold all of my tsavs and then kind of missed them...picked one up recently though, it's shown below. And one of these gems pictured was purchased "preloved" from a lovely PSer with excellent taste, whom I'm sure will recognize the gem

Pics one and two show my three "larger" mint garnets - first is 1.76 cts, 7.3 mm Portuguese round cut by Andrew at Gemfix; then 2.39 ct, 7.5 mm Gene cut; then an oval 2.12 ct, @9.5 x 7.5 if memory serves, from Yvonne Raley. Interestingly, while it has the "worst" cut (not precision), the oval has the best color and is easily the most saturated. It glows in sunlight, similar to how a paraiba glows IMO. The gemfix round looks the "mintiest" and has no yellow at all, with the blue mod, but it's also the smallest; the Gene gem has arguably the best cut, it's chunky and gorgeous and a sparkle bomb, but it definitely shows more yellow than either of the others (which really show little to none). I've been debating for a couple of months on selling one of these, but I simply cannot decide which one to sell, since they all have definite strengths and weaknesses. And I like them all!! So they all remain with me for now

Pic 3 - Picked up a tsav after I realized that I missed having one . Stephanie at Metalicious sourced it and set it, it's about a carat, 6 mm round. This pic shows it looking it's very best; it varies a bit in lighting.

Pic 4 - my 5 mm pair of Portuguese mints from Yvonne, 1.15 cts total weight, they are set in my three stone ring with a mahenge center. They look yellower in this pic and not as nice as they are IRL, but it's a decent pic.

 

[katharath]

A few more pics of same gems - believe me, I could easily fill a thread with pics on each one of these. (Also a pic of some mint melee I got but haven't used yet. They look gorgeous IRL but pretty washed out in the pic; they're so tiny that it makes them even harder to get decent pics of, 1.8 mm). The hard part isn't just getting the color right - they can look so washed out or too yellow even when they're not - but my two rounds can show beautiful dispersion, especially the Gene gem. I can't ever get it to photograph though . My pics truly don't do these justice, but I tried!

 

[minousbijoux]

There is just nothing I don't like about green! Here are a few that I have known and loved. Some I still have, some have been adopted by new families, including, most recently, my all time favorite mint merelani, a trillion nicknamed Precioussssssss. I am pleased to say that all adoptive families are PSers.

First, Roger's pic of his stone, then two of my photos of Roger's stone, then Preciousssss.

 

[minousbijoux]

Then more of Precioussss and her partner in crime, Tsavorite. Oh, I forgot stats! I think the Roger stone is a little over 2 carats, Precioussss is right around 2 cts, and Tsavorite is a bit over 2.

 

[minousbijoux]

Then Mr. Cush. A big presence for a little guy, at just over 1 ct IIRC.
Next up is an unnamed, nonprecision cut, 4+ ct fellow who lives with another 4 ct cushion cut mate at the bank. I'm embarrassed to say they don't get much attention. They are medium dark stones and I had an impossible time photographing him - you can see how manipulated the backgrounds in the photos are and yet it still does not come close to the saturated color I see. As close to a "vivid" tsavorite as I've seen.

 

[lilmosun]

Drooling here...one of my favorite colors for garnets. Unfortunately, like with many stones, I was late to jump on the bandwagon. Was fortunately enough to buy the trillion from a friend - exactly the color I was looking for. Other than that just some babies. Would love to own a mint someday and a larger tsav.



And while I am dreaming...I was so tempted by this tsav and diamond bracelet - a perfect match with my other two bracelets (shown).

Unfortunately, it was a little bit out of my price range

 

[minousbijoux]

Okay, this will be it for now. I have a few more that are at the bank and that I don't have pics of. But here is what I DO have pics of. A darker toned, saturated Merelani Mint or a lighter toned tsavorite from Gemrite. Its over 2 cts and looks very big to me, but I don't remember how big it is. A round merelani mint that I have to do something with. My guess is that its about 2 cts (I think its around 7mm). Then two I've actually set - a Namibian demantoid from Jeff Davis and a tsavorite from Gene in his Jua round.

 

[minousbijoux]

Drooling here...one of my favorite colors for garnets. Unfortunately, like with many stones, I was late to jump on the bandwagon. Was fortunately enough to buy the trillion from a friend - exactly the color I was looking for. Other than that just some babies. Would love to own a mint someday and a larger tsav.



And while I am dreaming...I was so tempted by this tsav and diamond bracelet - a perfect match with my other two bracelets (shown).

Unfortunately, it was a little bit out of my price range

Your stones are gorgeous! Wow, they are all so saturated. The little ones carry such a big wallop, and the trillion? I can totally see why you jumped at that one. Woah.

 

[_lovesvintage_]

Gorgeous greens everyone! I have just recently jumped on the green garnet bandwagon. Here is my first purchase, a 0.61 ct Namibian demantoid purchased from caratsgems on eBay.

 

[Sungura]

I was also late to the green garnet party. I couldn't imagine any green being more wonderful than colombian emeralds. But then I saw green garnets IRL and realized there is room in my heart for all

Everyone has such wonderful greens. Fun thread!

 

[Rothschild55]

Hi Jstarfireb,
I love your collection of greens, they are so pretty. May I ask where you got the setting for Gene's Tsav-2nd from the left-is it from Sally at Heart of Water? I think it is a really lovely setting
Thank You!

 

[katharath]

It's funny, I know that we have the green garnet fans in here bc I've personally bought green garnets from at least two of the posters in this thread

Minous - every time I see pics of that round mint I go crazy for it...LOVE it so much!!! And your big tsav - wow!! Didn't know you had that gem, that is beautiful!!

Sungura - did Yvonne make your 5 stone ring too? Very pretty! (I remember she did your pear ring). Your beads reminded me that I have some too, lol. I love long tiny beaded necklaces with genuine gems. Here are a couple of mine - they are each about 32-34 inches long. One is demantoids, mints, moonstones, and mahenges; the other is demantoids, mints, alex, yellow sapphires, blue tourmaline. Both made for me by Yvonne, with silver accents. I've been meaning to have her restring them with 14k gold instead (may sound silly but these beads are actually pretty pricey, so I don't mind spending more for gold accents when I restring them) - plus I want to break up the color blocked mahenge/green one and mix them all up.

Sorry the lighting is so bad, I just snapped these pics quickly. These actually look very pretty in sunlight, although they could use a nice cleaning.

 

[lilmosun]

Thanks Minous - Means a ton coming from someone who has seen so many and has owned some real beauties. I originally passed on the trillion believe it or not. My friend told me she was selling two stones she knew I would be interested. I could only afford one and picked the other one (a cuprian I love as well). Lucky for me, the tsav didn't sell (her picture was horrible but I trust her eye as she taught me a lot of what I know) so I got a second chance...meant to be, right? I think your asscher (and NKOTBs) has me itching for a mint

Lovesvintage - thanks for the reminder that I should check caratsgems again...I bought my chryso from them and love it.

katharath - ahh..I have some of yvonne's beads too (tsav, mahenge and red spinels). I bought them unstrung and really need to make them a priority after seeing yours

So much green beauty on this thread...

 

[NKOTB]

Yay! Loving the eye candy so far! Thank you all for posting! I know there are more goodies out there (ahem, TL and Chrono! ), keep 'em coming!!

 

[Lovinggems]

I love green, wish I bought a few more green stones a few years earlier. Thank you everyone for sharing your green gems.

 

[mochiko42]

My tsav 5-stone from Yvonne.

 

[T L]

Fun thread, love mint and other green garnets. I have others, but I can't find the pics right now, including some demantoids. Here's my favorites for now.

 

[lovedogs]

Fun thread, love mint and other green garnets. I have others, but I can't find the pics right now, including some demantoids. Here's my favorites for now.

Love your stones TL! I especially like the glowing heart shape ring