Luke Judge

The Garnet was once a very popular gemstone with the deep ref variety being one of the main gemstones used during the Victorian era. Its blood red colour could be worn when a lady was first coming out of a period of deep mourning when black only was worn. The Victorians were not the first people to wear Garnets, it is believes that the Egyptians has Garnet beads.

Whilst we normally think of the Garnet as being red, the term actually refers to a whole family of Gemstones which vary in color from Black, through green, purple, yellow, orange to differing shades of red.

The Garnet is the birthstone for January and has also been used to signify Friendship improving personal relationships when worn.

Due to the popularity of the Garnet during the Victorian era imitation Garnets were introduced and many pieces of antique jewellery which appear to be set with red Garnets are actually set with red glass or other man made stones.  You will need to take care when buying antique garnet jewellery that you know if you are buying real garnet gemstones or costume jewellery. Ask the Jewellery you are buying from, the can either test the stones for you. A  clue for you, are the stones set into real gold? if so they may well be real. Stones set in base metal are more likely to be costume jewellery.

Care of Garnet Jewellery

Garnets are quite resilient and can be cleaned in an ultrasonic machine or in a gentle liquid jewellery cleaner . A word of caution you will need to ensure which other materials the garnets are set with. If its gold then go ahead and clean you garnet jewellery as mentioned here.  If other materials are used then you will need to ensure that your cleaning technique is appropriate to those materials too.

eastern Europe Collectables Beads, clue, garnet gemstones, red colour, shades, victorian era