Glorious Garnets: Why This Lesser-Known Gemstone is Undergoing a Renaissance

Among the oldest known gemstones, the garnet, January’s birthstone, has been prized for more than 5,000 years. Found in the jewellery of Egyptian pharaohs and ancient Romans, the Victorians adored the red variety of garnet for which this gemstone is best known. Jewellery in the 19th century wasn’t just an accessory; it was a vehicle of expression. The garnet’s rich red colour was seen as a symbol of love, passion and the heart’s desire.

One of the most misunderstood gemstones in the mineral kingdom, the colour red played an essential role in the naming of the garnet. Derived from the Latin word ‘granatus’, meaning grain or seed, garnet is believed to be a reference to the red seeds of the pomegranate. This led to the common misconception, still very much alive today, that all garnets are red when, in fact, their colours span the spectrum. Virtually unheard of in the jewellery industry just a decade ago, garnets have shed their dusty image and emerged as a gemstone with enormous collecting potential. Join us as we step inside the dizzying world of garnets and speak to the dealers and jewellers who are leading the way in drawing attention to the greatness of this lesser-known gemstone.

The Rainbow World of Garnets

The garnet family is one of the most complex in the mineral kingdom. With many different species—14 in total—six are used in jewellery-making: almandine, andradite, grossular, pyrope, spessartite and uvarovite. Closely related to each other and with the same crystal structure, garnets are rarely found in nature in their purest chemical compositions but as endless blends of different species.

Within these species, there are different varieties, and these are what we will be focussing on in this article. You will likely recognise their names because they are the varieties that jewellers love to work with most. The tsavorite garnet, a variety of grossular garnet, contains trace amounts of chromium and vanadium that are responsible for its light green to intense deep green colour. The mandarin garnet, a variety of spessartite garnet known for its signature vivid orange colour, caused by a high concentration of manganese. The rhodolite garnet, a hybrid of the almandine and pyrope garnet varieties, rose red to purplish red in colour thanks to trace elements of iron and chromium. And the demantoid garnet, an extremely rare variety of andradite garnet that is rich in calcium and iron, with a light yellow green to deep forest-green hue.

Then there are the lesser-known varieties, such as Malaia, Mali, hessonite and colour-change garnets. Among the rarest gems in the garnet family, colour-change garnets were first discovered in the 1980s in Tanzania. A cocktail of pyrope with traces of spessartite, these remarkable gems display one colour in daylight and another in incandescent light.

Garnets: A Joy to Work With

Most coloured gemstones have an Achilles heel—a property that makes them difficult to work with or which negatively affects their value. Emeralds, for example, are brittle due to their natural inclusions, while sapphires are usually heat-treated to enhance their colour, greatly impacting their worth. Not so for garnets. When I asked coloured gemstone expert Maddy Barber, Founder of Madly Gems, what the biggest challenges of working with garnets are, she could think of none: “Honestly? Garnets are an absolute dream to work with. Unlike many other gemstones, garnets require zero treatment and are durable enough for daily wear. In fact, they boast a rich and fascinating history that spans thousands of years, making them one of the oldest gemstones used in jewellery. With their exceptional fire and brilliance, garnets are incredibly eye-catching, combining beauty with affordability. This makes them appealing not only to those new to coloured gemstones but also to seasoned gem collectors.”

Client Approved: The Most Popular Garnets

Which garnets are the most requested? For Doris Hangartner, a passionate gemstone connoisseur based in Switzerland, it is tsavorite and mandarin garnets, discovered in 1967 and 1991, respectively. “We have a lot of requests for these fresh and exciting gems,” she says. “They have such a young and vibrant air about them.” The tsavorite garnet, in particular, is a firm favourite with her clients. “A more vibrant alternative to the classic emerald, I prefer working with tsavorite garnets because they are singly refractive stones. These gems tend to have more brilliance, sparkle and shine.”

A former De Beers Executive Vice President who spent more than three decades with the diamond giant, Neil Ventura founded his eponymous brand in 2023. A private jeweller based in leafy Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England, Neil is carving out a name for Ventura based on the calibre of its coloured stones. “My time at De Beers opened lots of doors,” he explains. “Working exclusively with the finest gemstone dealers, we aim to open clients’ eyes to those under-appreciated gems, like garnets, that are the stars of the future.” I met with him at the end of last year to find out more about his fledgling brand. One jewel immediately jumped out at me: a one-of-a-kind cluster ring set with a perfectly cut oval mandarin garnet of more than four carats, chosen for its depth of colour and clarity. “This remarkable stone was not easy to come by,” says Neil. “Larger mandarin garnets displaying this most desirable pure, rich orange colour are scarce and getting more so.”

The Rarified World of Tsavorite, Mandarin, Colour-Change and Demantoid Garnets

Shattering the misconception that garnets are commonplace, Doris Hangartner acknowledges that one of the greatest difficulties of working with garnets is size. “It’s hard to find large gemstones of a good quality,” she says. “Anything over five carats is rare with tsavorites, while mandarin garnets over 10 carats are very rare. In comparison, morganites and aquamarines can easily be found in larger sizes.”

Niveet Nagpal, President of Omi Privé, told me about a recent win: first prize in the engagement ring category at the AGTA Spectrum Awards for a design featuring a 10-carat oval tsavorite garnet centre stone. He explains: “Tsavorite garnets displaying a deep green colour over three carats are quite rare, so imagine finding this 10-carat tsavorite, which has a nice, open green colour and is also very clean and well cut.”

Isaline Arnoldi, founder and CEO of gemhype, a B2B online store for gemstones, concurs. “There are certainly challenges in sourcing high-quality garnet rough, especially for tsavorites and mandarin garnets in larger sizes,” she says, pointing out that these stones are not only rare—their colour plays a crucial role as well. “For mandarin garnets, an intense, vibrant ‘Fanta orange’ is particularly sought after, making the search for such exceptional specimens even more demanding.”

At Madly Gems, Maddy Barber pinpoints the colour-change garnet as ripe for wider appreciation: “The colour-change garnet remains one of the most underrated and best-kept secrets in the gem world. Often mistaken for alexandrites, they boast a stunning colour shift, cost a fraction of the price of alexandrites and are just as rare if you ask me!”

Constantin Wild highlights the scarcity of demantoid garnets, which are found predominantly in Russia. One of the hardest varieties of garnet to source, the political situation has meant that the trade of Russian demantoid garnets has ceased in the Western world. One especially memorable sale sticks in his mind: “A pair of Russian demantoid garnets over 10 carats in the top chrome green colour were auctioned at Christie’s,” he recalls. “They sold for several hundred thousand US dollars.”

Thanks to the recent discovery of demantoid garnets in Madagascar in 2009, Niveet Nagpal has found a way around this predicament. “The colour that comes from that area is a kind of minty green, which I like the best,” he says. “We like to pair them with alexandrite or Paraiba tourmaline at Omi Privé, with multiple rare gemstones in one piece. When people see a demantoid garnet with a Paraiba tourmaline halo, they’re surprised that there’s a garnet in that colour.”

Why is the Appreciation of Garnets Growing?

When asked if they are experiencing more interest in garnets, all the dealers and jewellers featured in this article answered with a unanimous yes. “The popularity of garnets has been growing constantly over the last four decades, particularly due to new discoveries like the rhodolite, tsavorite and mandarin garnet,” says Constantin Wild. Maddy Barber’s response is similarly upbeat: “For generations, many assumed garnets were only red, but with increased awareness of varieties like tsavorite garnet, spessartite and Malaia garnets, a whole new audience is falling in love with their incredible spectrum of colours.”

Neil Ventura suggests we will be seeing more of certain garnet varieties in the future as the cost of coveted sapphires, rubies, and emeralds becomes increasingly prohibitive for many: “With the persistent price appreciation of traditional heirloom gemstones, especially the finest examples, tsavorite and demantoid garnets, for example, offer striking colours at more affordable price points—even as both become rarer themselves, particularly in larger sizes.”

Niveet Nagpal believes that interest in garnets is growing because people are increasingly looking for gems that tell a great story. Doris Hangartner, meanwhile, attributes the growing interest in garnets to a new generation of jewellery wearers who have a much freer relationship with colour. “We are moving away from the traditional base colours towards more expressive and vibrant colours,” Doris explains. “In our changing world, all the fresh colours—Paraiba tourmalines, tsavorites and mandarin garnets—are rising in popularity. Having moved on from traditional diamond jewellery, we are seeing an influx of clients expressing themselves through joyful coloured stones.”

And as for those Victorian-esque red garnets that caused all the confusion in the first place? They are back, too, rebranded as “raspberry garnets” at gemhype. “We chose the name because the colours of this material range from raspberry to blackberry red, reminiscent of the rich tones of these fruits,” says Isaline Arnoldi. “While such colours were known in the past, we were fortunate to acquire a new lot, allowing us to bring these fascinating stones back into our collection.” Niveet Nagpal has been similarly won over. “The purple garnets that come from the border of Mozambique have a deep reddish-purple colour that is really intense and unique in the gemstone world—I love them.”

Mandarin, tsavorite, rhodolite, demantoid, colour-change, raspberry—the diversity of the garnet is unmatched. Personally, I’m most drawn to the lighter demantoid garnets, but the beauty of the garnet is that there is a colour for everyone. Remarkable and, with some varieties, increasingly rare, the garnet’s time to shine has arrived.