The Value and Importance of Garnets

Garnet Popularity

Enthusiasts have admired garnets for thousands of years due to their deep red hues and symbolism. Garnets are believed to be the oldest known gemstone. They symbolize love, protection, and friendship, and are reputed to boost confidence, courage, energy, and security. Cultures from ancient times to the present deeply cherish garnets.

Garnet in the Past

The name garnet is derived from the Latin word granatum, meaning grain or seed, reminiscent of the deep red seeds of a pomegranate. This popular gemstone has fascinated people for millennia. Pharaohs of Egypt wore red garnet necklaces, and ancient Romans used carved garnets as seals to safeguard important documents. In the Middle Ages, garnets were believed to cure depression and served as talismans against evil, disasters, wounds, poisons, and bad dreams.

Garnets Today

As the birthstone for January, garnets are believed to provide protection and grounding for the wearer. They bring love, luck, health, loyalty, and friendship to those who wear them, in addition to offering safety.

What are Garnets?

Garnets are a group of silicate minerals used as gemstones and abrasives since the Bronze Age. While they are known for their deep red color, garnets also come in other shades (orange, brown, yellow, pink, green, blue, and colorless). Peach, green, colorless, and blue garnets are rarer. They are valued for their hardness and durability, scoring 6.5 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. However, they should be protected from hard blows and rough wear.

Garnets are mined worldwide in locations such as Brazil, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Russia, the USA, and China. The stone colors vary by location, with Sri Lanka being known for its rhodolite garnet, a common deep reddish-purple variety.

Garnet Pricing

The quality of a garnet, which includes color, clarity, carat, and cut, determines its price. Here’s a breakdown of these factors:

Color

A garnet’s color significantly affects its value. While the deep red hue is the most popular and abundant, garnets also appear in various other colors. Rarer colors include peach, green, colorless, and blue. Although both demantoid and tsavorite garnets are green and rare, they are distinct varieties. Tsavorite is a grossularite garnet, while demantoid is an andradite garnet.

Clarity

Clarity varies among garnet types. Almandine, pyrope, and rhodolite red garnets typically lack eye-visible inclusions, while orange garnets like spessartine and hessonite commonly exhibit inclusions visible to the naked eye.

Carat

These gemstones come in a range of sizes and weights. Though some garnets, such as almandine, are larger and affordable, rarer types found in smaller sizes increase significantly in value with size. Specifically, demantoid and tsavorite garnets see a substantial rise in value as their size increases.

Cut

Many garnets are cut into standard shapes and sizes to facilitate easy jewelry setting. However, rare and expensive garnets like tsavorite and demantoid are often cut into unique shapes to preserve carat weight.

How Much Does Garnet Cost?

The cost of garnets varies based on their quality, as garnets aren’t graded by GIA like other gemstones. Some brands use their own grading systems for colored gemstones. Generally, garnets with decent color and some inclusions cost around $500 to $600 per carat. Cleaner, larger garnets with excellent color range from $2,000 to $7,000 per carat. The rare demantoid and tsavorite garnets are some of the most valuable garnets, and also among the most rare and valuable colored gemstones.

Garnet Treatments

Although most garnets do not undergo enhancement treatments, some stones do. For example, demantoid garnets, a vibrant green variety, may undergo heat treatment to enhance their color.