The birthstone for January is the garnet, a gemstone that is full of surprises
When you think of garnets you probably think of the red semi-precious stone often used instead of the far rarer ruby. You’re right…but that’s most certainly not all that a garnet is. The birthstone for January, the garnet comes in a rich range of colours from leafy green to honey gold to satsuma orange, sunset pink, plum purple and even shades of blue.
The red garnet is the most common of all the colours in the palette and the green garnet, known as the Tsavorite garnet, is very much rarer.
The garnet is not only the birthstone for January, it is also the gemstone linked to the second wedding anniversary and it is believed that its name came from the Latin for seed, granate, due to its similarity to the colour of a pomegranate seed.
For those who believe in the healing power of precious stones, the garnet is linked to regeneration and energising. In medieval times the garnet was believed to relieve depression and prevent the owner from having bad dreams. In ancient Greece, the garnet was associated with lovers being parted and given to ensure a quick return. This stems from the story of Persephone and Hades: the God of the Underworld didn’t want Persephone to leave him, so he gave her a pomegranate, from which she ate six seeds, so dooming herself to spend six months with him every year and six months above on Earth.
Garnets have been treasured by those lucky enough to own one for millennia. A garnet necklace was found around the neck of a young man in a grave that dates back 5,000 years; Plato had his portrait engraved on a garnet by a Roman goldsmith and in Bohemia (now part of Czechoslovakia) where garnets were mined, churches, castles and the homes of the very wealthy often had magnificent interiors decorated with garnets.
Indeed, the term Bohemian Garnets is still in used today, referencing jewellery where the red stones are set in a tightly packed fashion, much like the interior of a pomegranate.
Whether you love the Bohemian ‘packed in like pomegranate seeds’ design style, or prefer something a little more contemporary, the gorgeous garnet is a marvellously versatile gemstone and delivers considerable bang for its buck!