Garnets are often associated with the warm colours -- typically a blood red, or in rarer cases, a mandarin colour [see the Gallery section of this site for a great example]. Both Penny and Simon Sturt-Bray are, to say the least, obsessed by rare stones, and there are few more rare than a green garnet. Green is the rarest and most precious colour for garnets and it typically comes in three forms:
Uvarovite garnets which are tiny and too small to be cut for jewellery.
Tsavorite garnets which are a deep green and are found near Mount Tsavo in Tanzania
Demantoid garnets - the most important of all Sometimes mistaken for emeralds, demantoid garnets were hugely desirable in both early 20th century and Victorian-era jewellery [with its marked penchant for coloured stones in general]. Despite the stone's popularity, demantoid garnet was never widely available because of its rarity and for well over fifty years newly mined stones have been quite simply unobtainable. Recently small finds have again been made in Russia, so this is the first time in over one hundred years these fabulous stones have been available. You can imagine how a rare stone enthusast like Simon reacted when a very very tiny quantity of them became available in Australia. Such is his reputation the stone merchant would not dare to offer them to anyone else first! Called demantoid because of the way the stone reflects light [like a diamond] and because of its high adamantine lustre, demantoid garnets are softer than a diamond and have a higher colour dispersion. According to the UK based gemstone authority www.24carat.co.uk
"Demantoid garnet is a rare and beautiful bright grass green sub-variety of andradite garnet. It appears to have first been discovered around 1892 in the Bobrovka area of Russia.The Bobrovka is a small tributary of the River Tschussowaja in the Sissersk region on the western side of the Ural Mountains.
It was at first thought to be emerald, which is found nearby, and has been erroneously called "Uralian emerald".
The brilliant colour of demantoid garnet is due to partial replacement of the silicate by chromic oxide. A diagnostic characteristic of demantoid is the inclusion of radiating fibres of byssolite fibres in a pattern described as a horse-tail. There is no other green stone which shows this feature."
In the ring shown above are three perfectly matched demantoid garnets of the very highest quality. If you are interested in having something made from our remaining [very small] stock of demantoid garnets you should email penny@simonsturtbray.com to discuss.
The ring shown here is not available as it has gone to a lovely new home and will not be repeated. |
