Blue Garnet Gemstone and Jewelry: Buying Guides
May 04, 2021
New Gemstones?
You’ve probably heard it said many times that there’s nothing new under the sun. This, I believe, is certainly true where novel plots are concerned because there are only so many ways the plot can be twisted to make it different from all the others. But where gemstones are concerned, it is certainly not the truth because new gemstones, according to the scientific community associated with the gem world, are being discovered every day. Better then to say, there’s always something new, not yet discovered. So, what new gemstones have been unearthed recently?New or just recently Discovered Gemstones
That same scientific community also states that at least 50 new minerals, rocks, and gems are unearthed every year but not all are gem quality so out of those 50 maybe one or two are considered worthy of becoming gemstones in the highly competitive jewellery market.One such completely new gemstone that definitely qualifies as one of the 50 is the Carmelazide or Carmel Sapphire that was discovered almost exactly one year ago in the volcanic rocks of Israel’s northern Haifa Desert so named because of its caramel colour. As well, the biggest ever yellow diamond at 552.7 carats was found last October 2019 in New York.
Sometimes, however, a report of a new gemstone can be misleading as in the case of a new find from Turkey, the only place in the world where the exquisite Zultanite has ever been found. The fact is, that find was not a new gemstone at all but a re-naming of the Zultanite to a Csarite, one of my favourite gemstones because of its exceptional colour range and colour-changing ability. I dare to say too that I much prefer the ‘old’ name Zultanite because it conjures up pictures of ancient times when Sultans were the rulers in ancient Persia (now Iran). This re-naming, however, has no affect on this exquisite stone and is in keeping with that old saying, ‘a rose by any other name is still a rose’, so whether a Zultanite or Csarite it is the same stone.
The truly new stone, however, that is causing the greatest buzz is the discovery, in 2018, of a new Blue Garnet, a colour never before known in the Garnet Family of Gemstones.
The New Blue Garnet
Garnets are a well established family of gemstones. Therefore, it could be argued that this new blue variety is not a new gemstone at all but it is a new gemstone, like a new baby in the family, whose colour, a dark saturated greenish-blue, is totally unlike other blue gems, e.g. Topaz (Sky Blue, Swiss Blue, London Blue); the violet-blue of the Tanzanite; the turquoise-blue of the Zircon, and the teal-blue Spinel. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) also, in 2018, confirmed this new gem to be a blue variety of Garnet. And equally exciting for January babies, this new blue gem offers a new birthstone color choice.The location of this discovery is at the border of Tanzania and Kenya but with the changing laws in Tanzania to benefit that country’s economy there is the question of availability outside of Tanzania. I suggest, therefore, if you have a yen to see these brand new Blue Garnets to make them part of your jewelry collection/wardrobe you contact LL Private Jewellers at 604-684-6343
