Malaya Garnet

Item Description

Malaya Garnet is a Swahili name given to Garnet gems that are a mixture of different species i.e., Grossular, Spessartine, Almandine, Pyrope and Andradite creating a stone that carries certain elements from various species. The word "Malaya" literally means "out of the family" or "bastard", and was used to describe these Garnets because they had no distinct genetic makeup. When these stones were first found in the 1960s they were thought to be Spessartine. After extensive testing they were found to be not Spessartine, not Grossular nor Pyrope but somewhere in between. This gem, like many from this area is a combination of two or more species (my guess would be Spessartine and Grossular, but it's hard to say without analysis). The color in this gem is reminiscent of certain garnets that I've seen from Nigeria with more of an orange red hue. The stone is only very very slightly included and has a very attractive "Oval Brilliant" cut. This is a very lively gem from one of the most active gem producing countries in the world. This material is becoming rarer on the market, as the dried up river beds that produce these gems have been harvested again and again, each time producing less and less material.