Royal Purple Garnet
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Look at that stunning colour! This gemstone is what we call 'rhodolite' or in more precise terms a pyrope-almandine garnet. Garnets come in a variety of different colours such as red, yellow, orange or green - reddish hues being the most common and affordable ones, and known as rhodolite garnets. So what makes this rhodolite garnet here so special ?
Well, in early 2016, a new garnet deposit has been unearthed near Manica, in Mozambique. This secondary deposit unveiled garnets of a predominantly strong purple colour: a strikingly attractive and homogeneous vivid purple colour with red flashes: Gorgeous!
Even though the chemical composition of this newly discovered stone identifies it as a pyrope-almandine garnet, analytical research in its absorption spectra showed some unique properties. The main absorption bands evolve in the yellow to green area of the visible spectrum - leaving two strong red and blue transmission areas producing a combined vivid eye-visible purple colour. These also account for the fascinating colour-change this type of garnet reveals: some might describe it as grape-coloured under daylight to cranberry-coloured with magenta flashes under incandescent light.
Due to such a vivid and intense colour saturation, larger stones tend to rapidly become too dark, making smaller samples (under 3-4 carats) often the material with the best colour.
Another deposit of this unique type of garnet has been found nearby, in Tanzania. However, better material seems to come from Mozambique.
Unfortunately, the mining area has been shut down by the government due to political unrest in the area. Thus, making the supply of this unique and special royal purple garnet fade and scarce. Who knows if and when we’ll find this material again.
Thank you @arnoldi_international for showing me such an incredible gemstone: it conquered my heart
Mélanie Matthes
2021-05-13