The following information is from the website:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garnet
The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latingranatus ("grain"), possibly a reference to the Punica granatum ("pomegranate"), a plant with red seeds similar in shape, size, and color to some garnet crystals.
Garnets species are found in many colors including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, pink and colorless. The rarest of these is the blue garnet, discovered in the late 1990s in Bekily, Madagascar. It is also found in parts of the United States, Russia and Turkey. It changes color from blue-green in the daylight to purple in incandescent light, as a result of the relatively high amounts of vanadium (about 1 wt.% V2O3). Other varieties of color-changing garnets exist. In daylight, their color ranges from shades of green, beige, brown, gray, and blue, but in incandescent light, they appear a reddish or purplish/pink color. Because of their color changing quality, this kind of garnet is often mistaken for Alexandrite.
Garnet species’s light transmission properties can range from the gemstone-quality transparent specimens to the opaque varieties used for industrial purposes as abrasives. The mineral’s luster is categorized as vitreous (glass-like) or resinous (amber-like).
The hardness (Mohs scale) : 6.0 - 7.5
******** The shade of red color in garnet is not beautiful as the shade of red color in ruby and spinel so the price is much cheaper than ruby and spinel. In the past, there were plenty of Thai garnet rough which make the price of red Thai garnet very cheap. If you want to make the jewelry setting for the garnet, you have to use the white metal because the yellow gold metal will make the stone color darker than the original color which is not preferable in the market, however, some people do not mind darker red color garnet as they like yellow gold metal than platinum or silver.
The following free streaming videos are from www.youtube.com
Stores from www.amazon.com The product categories are under 'powered by amazon.com' (right rectangle) Please read the product details carefully before purchase.