Almandine Garnet

Almandine Garnet is the most common variety of garnet and is typically dark red to reddish-brown in color. When purchasing an almandine Garnet, consider these factors for desirable quality:

1.Color: High-quality almandine Garnet displays a rich, deep red color. The most desirable specimens have a color that is not too dark but saturated.

2.Clarity: almandine Garnet is typically opaque to translucent. However, transparent specimens do exist and are considered more valuable.

3.Cut: Due to its often-dark color, almandine Garnet is commonly cut into shapes that allow maximum light return such as oval, round, or cushion cuts. Cabochon cuts are popular for stones with asterism (star-like inclusions).

4.Size: almandine Garnet occurs in a wide range of sizes. Larger gems are available without a significant increase in price per carat, making them excellent choices for statement pieces.

5.Treatments: almandine Garnet is usually not treated, making it ideal for those seeking natural gemstones. Stones that have undergone no treatments are more valued.

In summary, desirable qualities in almandine Garnet include rich, vibrant color, good clarity, suitable cuts that maximize light return, larger sizes, and absence of treatments. As always, purchase from a reputable dealer to ensure you're getting high-quality stones.

Almandine Garnet is the hardest garnet, and so is used for abrasive applications, like sandpaper. The properties of this stone make it perfect for sanding wood. It is also used for sand-blasting, waterjet cutting, and filtration, since its fine grains can be used to keep out contaminated material.

Almandine Garnet is the state gemstone of Connecticut and the traditional birthstone for January babies. Almandine Garnet was worn as a stone for protection by the Crusaders and considered a defence against poison during ancient times. It was also believed that if a wise man dreamt of this stone, they would wake with the answers to all of their life's mysteries.

Almandine occurs rather abundantly in the gem-gravels of Sri Lanka, whence it has sometimes been called Ceylon-ruby. When the color inclines to a violet tint, the stone is often called Syriam garnet, a name said to be taken from Syriam, an ancient town of Pegu (now part of Myanmar). Large deposits of fine almandine-garnets were found, some years ago, in the Northern Territory of Australia, and were at first taken for rubies and thus they were known in trade for some time afterwards as Australian rubies. Almandine is widely distributed. Fine rhombic dodecahedra occur in the schistose rocks of the Zillertal, in Tyrol, and are sometimes cut and polished. An almandine in which the ferrous oxide is replaced partly by magnesia is found at Luisenfeld in German East Africa. In the United States there are many localities which yield almandine. Fine crystals of almandine embedded in mica-schist occur near Wrangell in Alaska. The coarse varieties of almandine are often crushed for use as an abrasive agent.