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GIA 4Cs Diamond Blog

GIA 4Cs Diamond Blog

Happy Birthday January! We begin our famous birthstone series with none other than January’s birthstone, garnet. While there are many different species and varieties of garnet that come in many colors, perhaps the most well-known is pyrope garnet. Usually deep red, this gem is featured in the antique pyrope hair comb, a stunning and historic example of pyrope’s beauty, and GIA’s famous birthstone for January babies. (more…)

garnet birthstone

January’s birthstone, garnet, is known for its impressive variety of eye-catching colors, which can be almost any color of the rainbow. Garnets occur in green (demantoid and tsavorite), orange (spessartine), red (almandine and pyrope), and purplish red (rhodolite), plus a few rare garnets even change color under different types of light. But color is far from a garnet’s only attractive feature. (more…)

The garnet is actually a group of several minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. There are six common garnet minerals – and several other rare species. The most common garnets are  almandine, andradite, grossular, pyrope, spessartine and uvarovite The name “garnet” comes from 14th century Middle English word gernet meaning ‘dark red’, (more…)