Fine Coloured Stones
Garnets
Red · Purplish Red · Orange · Mandarin Orange · Green · Peach · Colour-change
Varieties
How garnets are categorised
Trade categories rather than gemological ones — these are the terms a requirement is normally written in.
- Rhodolite
- Purplish red to raspberry; the volume line, widely calibrated.
- Spessartite
- Orange to mandarin; vivid and strongly in demand.
- Demantoid
- Green andradite with exceptional dispersion. The premium member.
- Colour-change Garnet
- Shifts between daylight and incandescent light.
- Almandine & Pyrope
- Deep reds; the classic commercial garnets.
- Malaya Garnet
- Pink-orange to peach, between rhodolite and spessartite.
Garnets in detail
Specify the garnet, not just "garnet"
The price range across the group is very wide — commercial almandine and fine demantoid are not in the same market. A requirement that just says garnet cannot be quoted accurately, so name the member or describe the colour precisely.
Rhodolite and spessartite are the two most commonly bought for production. Both calibrate well and both are available in consistent quantity.
Demantoid and fine colour-change material are single-stone purchases and should be approached as searches.
The untreated advantage
Garnets are not routinely treated. For a brand whose positioning rests on natural, untreated material, the group offers real colour range without the disclosure complexity of corundum or emerald.
The exception to watch is that some material sold as garnet in low-cost channels is glass or composite. Buy through the trade and ask.
Treatment
Garnets are not routinely treated and no established treatment is in general commercial use across the group. We record disclosure per stone as standard.
This describes the market for the species. It is not a statement about any individual stone — disclosure for a specific stone comes from that stone’s own record and documentation. More on laboratory reports.
Buyer questions
Buying garnets
- Which garnet is best for a production run?
- Rhodolite and spessartite. Both calibrate reliably, both are available in quantity, and both hold colour well in small sizes.
- What is mandarin garnet?
- A trade term for strongly saturated orange spessartite. It is a colour description rather than a separate species, so it is worth agreeing against an image.