Color Change Garnet

Item Description

Garnets have always been popular with dealers and collectors. Their durability and wide range of colors make them some of the most well-known gems in the world. I have literally seen Garnet in every color of the rainbow (including colorless and black), but arguably the most sought after Garnets are the rarely seen color change stones. Many color change Garnets are found in Africa, whether it be Tanzania, Kenya or even Madagascar. This material came to us a few years ago, and we were happy to buy it as the supply seems to be limited on the market. Chemically, this is not one species of Garnet, but possibly a mixture of Grossular and Spessartine, though some have told us that there is a bit of Pyrope in there as well. In indoor lighting, you will see this stone shows a purplish-pink color, but when you take it out in the sun, it changed to a fantastic blue-green shade. This phenomenon is known as an "Alexandrite"-type color change, which is rarely seen in nature. Many stones can only show a shift, i.e., blue to purple, but this is a full color change! It's a good sized stone for the material, as most of them are on the smaller side. It's certainly gem quality, and only has very slight inclusions. The cut on this stone is a "Pear" cut. Priced at $800 per carat high retail. A highly valued gem on the market today.