Garnet
Garnets are a group of minerals that are very much alike. These gemstones come in almost every color. Red is the most common garnet color, and is found in metamorphic rocks around the world. Other colors like green, orange, and purple-red are less common and more valuable.
Colors
Many people with a favorite color will pick red, yellow, green, blue, pink, gray, orange, brown, or purple. These are the colors of garnets!
History
Pharaohs
Thousands of years ago, red garnet necklaces were worn by Egypt’s pharaohs. The necklaces were entombed with their mummified bodies as valuable goods for the afterlife.
Famous Garnet
The garnets in this antique hairpin are Bohemian pyropes. Pyro is the Greek word for “fire.”
Chip Clark, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History
what's in a name?
Garnet
[gar-net]
(noun)
The word “garnet” comes from the Latin name malum granatum. It means “red pomegranate seeds.” The seeds from a pomegranate fruit are red and do look like garnets!
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