Birthstones - Garnet

A Family of Colors

When most people think of garnet, they see only images of a dark red gemstone. But look a little deeper into garnet’s many varieties, and you’ll discover every color of the rainbow except blue. Few gems can rival garnet in the diversity of colors available. The green of summer grass, the gold of freshly harvested wheat, the orange of fiery hot steel, the pink of a delicate rosebud – garnet offers all these colors and more.

Noah's Lantern

Garnets have been known to Man for thousands of years. Noah, it is said, used a garnet lantern to help him steer his ark through the dark night. Garnets are also found in jewellery from early Egyptian, Greek and Roman times. On the Breastplate of Aaron the Garnet represented the tribe of Judah.

Many an early explorer and traveller liked to carry a garnet with him, for the garnet was popular as a talisman and protective stone, as it was believed to light up the night and protect its bearer from evil and disaster. Today, science has taught us that the garnet's proverbial luminosity comes from its high refractive index.