Northwest Jewelry

Originally posted on 1-13-07 and now moved to this blog.

GARNETS

My daughter’s birthday is January 31, so her birthstone is the garnet. She has always wished for a different birthstone, because for years you’d see only the brownish red almandite garnets for sale in retail jewelry stores. Now that her mother (ME!) is in the jewelry and gemology business, she recognizes that there are many different kinds and colors of garnets and she is much happier about her month’s birthstone!

For instance, look at this ring:

It has an oval almandite garnet center stone, but the side round stones are rhodolite garnets. Rhodolite garnets are a mixture of pyrope and alamandite garnets and are a dark, purplish red or reddish purple color.

Here’s a loose rhodolite garnet gemstone:

Another beautiful garnet variety is the tsavorite garnet, a pair of which are pictured here:

Both the rhodolite and tsavorite garnets are more expensive than the more common red almandite, but they’re all garnets and all qualify as January’s birthstone!

You can find these and more at Northwest Jewelry!