Garnet

• Hardness

  7.0 - 7.5.

• Occurrence

  U.S. (Arizona), South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Myanmar (Burma), Scotland, Switzerland, Tanzania

• Appearance

  Garnet is the name which can be applied to six similar mineral species, namely almandine, pyrope, spessartine, grossular, andradite and uvarovite. To further complicate matters, many garnets are actually a combination of these minerals. Rhodolite garnet for instance, is a combination of almandine and pyrope, and is sometimes referred to as pyrope-almandine garnet. There are also many trade names and other commonly used names which only adds to the confusion, such as Rhodolite, Tsavorite, Hessonite, Malaya, Mozambique, Mandarin, Ant-hill, Leuco, Hydrogrossular, Demantoid, Melanite, Topazolite, Thai. Other names such as "cape ruby" are simply misleading and deceptive. Some garnets also exhibit color change and stars.

• Enhancements

  Garnet in generally is not enhanced.