Garnet
Also Almandine, Pyrope
A family of hard red silicates, the bead stone of the Bronze Age.
- Family
- Garnet
- Formula
- Fe₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃
- Mohs
- 7 to 7.5
- System
- Cubic
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Science
Garnet is a group of related minerals sharing one cubic structure while swapping metals: almandine (iron), pyrope (magnesium), spessartine (manganese), grossular and andradite (calcium). Most red garnet is a mix of almandine and pyrope. It forms in metamorphic schists as perfect twelve-sided crystals.
- Mineral
- Garnet
- Formula
- Fe₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃
- Crystal system
- Cubic
- Mohs hardness
- 7 to 7.5
- Specific gravity
- 3.95 to 4.30
- Refractive index
- 1.760 to 1.830
- Lustre
- Vitreous
- Colours
- Red, Deep red, Purple-red
- Birthstone
- January
Composition
Fe₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃. Made of Iron, Aluminium, Silicon, Oxygen, with trace Magnesium, Manganese responsible for colour.
Origin
- India
- Sri Lanka
- Brazil
- Madagascar
- Czech RepublicBohemian pyrope
- United StatesIdaho, New York
- Mozambique
Filled dots are primary sources
Rarity
Red almandine is abundant enough to be used as sandpaper. Colour-change and green garnets are the rare end of the family.
- 1 Abundant
- 2 Common
- 3 Uncommon
- 4 Rare
- 5 Exceptional
Hardness
Garnet sits at 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. It will scratch glass and holds a polish in daily wear.
Energy
Associations from crystal-healing tradition, recorded here as folklore. They are not medical claims.
Chakras
- Root
Element
- Fire
Zodiac
- Aquarius
- Capricorn
- Aries
Planets
- Mars
Properties
- Vitality
- Passion
- Commitment
- Protection on journeys
Lore
The name is from granatum, pomegranate, for the seed-like crystals. Garnet beads are found in Egyptian graves from 3000 BCE and in the Anglo-Saxon gold of Sutton Hoo, cut into flat cloisonné cells.
Legend says Noah hung a garnet lantern in the Ark. Bohemian pyrope was the fashionable dark red of Victorian jewellery.
- AbrasiveCrushed almandine is the grit in waterjet cutting and sandpaper.
- CrystalsRhombic dodecahedra, twelve diamond-shaped faces.