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January Birthstone Jewelry and Rings
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Natural Garnet
Birthstone of January. Deep red colors. |
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Natural Emerald
Another birthstone for January. We have beautiful affordable natural emeralds. |
Gemstones from these minerals can vary in color, including red, blue, green, yellow, brown, black, pink, orange, and colorless. The rarest garnet is the color-changing blue garnet, which changes colors from a blue-green in daylight to a purple in incandescent light, and which wasn't discovered until the late 1990s in Madagascar. This color changing property is not unique to the blue garnet, however. Other types of garnet display similar daylight/incandescent light transformations as well, but the blue is the most rare. Red is by far the most common, followed by green, yellow, and orange.
Garnet is found in many places around the world and each location provides its own set of colors to the garnet family. Russia provided the renowned designer Carl Faberge with the beautiful green demantoid garnets that he so often used in his work. The United States, where the red rhodolite garnets were originally found, produces stones that are often referred to in the market as Arizona ruby, New Mexico ruby, and Montana ruby. However, the majority of these red stones are now produced in India, East Africa, and Sri Lanka.
The US Geological Survey states that 14 states in the US produce garnet. However, while the United States produces tens of millions of dollars worth of garnet, only a tiny fraction of that amount is gem-grade. The rest is industrial grade garnet, which was originally used for a sandpaper application, but is now used in many abrasive applications because of garnet's natural hardness. This garnet is sold into a worldwide market of about 110,000 tons, annually. Because of this most garnet jewelry in the United States is made with imported garnet stones.
Garnets have been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Early Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used garnet in their jewelry, and garnet was often used for protection in talismans because it was thought to protect the wearer from evil. More recently, the 18th and 19th centuries saw high demand for the fiery red pyrope, which had been found in the former kingdom of Bohemia. These stones were often worked into jewelry in clusters of many smaller stones during the Victorian period - a tradition that is carried on today with stones found in the former Czechoslovakia.
The ancient garnet is a beautiful and lasting stone because of its high rating on the Mohs scale (7 to 7.5) and because of its high refractive index. It's highly sought-after because of its natural beauty, range of colors, and ease of crafting by skilled jewelers.
All original material copyright © Earth's Treasure 1998 - 2009. Reproduction of material is forbidden.
HandcraftedWith Love "My jewelry is handcrafted by me at time of order. Custom requests are welcome." Michelle the jeweler :-) |
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"When quality and personal service matters, I'm here to assist in making you that special piece of jewelry" Michelle the jeweler :-)
Our jewelry is made in the USA. 
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| Featured Jewelry |
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Heart Jewelry 
Simulated Diamond (Cubic Zirconia CZ) Jewelry 
Rich purple amethyst 
Created Ruby 
Mystic topaz jewelry 
Created Pink Sapphire 
Created White Sapphire 
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| Customer Reviews |
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I love my ruby ring. Best birthday gift I got for myself :-)
Jill, New York My wife loved the mystic topaz earrings. Thanks Michelle for helping me pick the perfect gift. Jake, Texas Click here to read more customer reviews and leave one of your own. All jewelry will come in free gift box. 
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