The World's Most Useful Gem & Jewelry Monthly Newsletter
Written by Carolyn Doyle for customers of The Dorado Company and other visitors to the
azgem.com website who subscribe.
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Usable Gems... and a little opinion.
January Birthstone Is
Garnet
The January birthstone is garnet... at least it is in
the USA.
This month we begin
a series on birthstones that will provide
answers to questions like...
"What is
my birthstone?"
"What
if I don't like the color of my birthstone?"
"What
if I can't afford my birthstone?"
Birthstones have long been a part of civilized cultures.
But even civilized cultures classified most gems by color until modern
times.
So, if you want to be a traditionalist, the January
birthstone is not just garnet, but orangy-red garnet. The name garnet is
derived from the Greek word "granatum"
or pomegranate seed... because the Greeks named garnet because its
color was the same as a pomegranate
seed.
Click on the box...
and have Google start putting money in your bank account!
And
if you prefer to balance tradition and your own taste, you can have
garnet birthstones in a variety of colors.
Garnet
is now recognized to be a family of minerals, with natural gem garnets occurring
in many shades and blends of pink, purple, orange, and red. There's even
a couple of vibrant green members of the garnet family. And just to add
a little more variety to January's
birthstone selection, there's also a color-change
variety.
Most
garnet gems are very affordable, which puts high-quality garnet jewelry
within reach of most everyone.
The
green garnets and the ones that change color are more expensive, because
they are somewhat rare.
Garnet is a popular gem, and its popularity isn't
limited to those born in January. This gem has the beauty, colors, durability,
and other characteristics necessary for a great gemstone.
So, if garnet is your birthstone, wear them with pride.
And if it isn't your birthstone, you should a few pieces of garnet jewelry
anyway.
A Google search for the keyword phrase garnet gems or
garnet lore returns a number of interesting listings and ads. I do not
guarantee the accuracy of the information on these sites, but they can be
interesting.
Gem Industry News...
2006 Tucson Gem Shows
The Tucson Gem Shows will get into full swing within a few days.
There will be thirty-something shows going on again this year.
It isn't practical to attend all of them, so we select
a few of the best and work them hard. Then we try one new one.
Which are the best? It depends on what you're looking for.
By now we know the shows with the best quality rough and faceted gems.
We'll buy some rough, and maybe a few faceted stones, and
we'll see some old friends.
Jewelry
Dealers
Are you going to Tucson? It's a familiar question in the gem and
jewelry industry.
If you are, you can have your color perception tested at the AGTA
show. To quote one industry magazine... "AGS announces the
introduction of the HRR fourth edition Pseudoisochromatic Test for
color deficiency screening, better known as the Colorvision Test."
The test only takes about ten minutes, and is recommended for anyone
engaged in the evaluation of colored gems.
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