Some Fun Facts About Rhodolite Garnet

The Rhodolite comes in every possible shade of red, ranging from deep red to the pinkish purple (An Umbalite garnet) and raspberry pink red (the last two being the most wanted colors by rhodolite collectors), cornering that particular color spectrum among garnet gemstones. It’s interesting to note that the word ‘rhodolite’ comes from the Greek word for ‘rose colored’. Here are even more interesting details about this garnet.

1. THE RHODOLITE CALLS FOUR CONTINENTS HOME

The sources of the Rhodolite is much more diverse than the green shaded tsavorite garnet with USA, China, Kenya, Brazil, Madagascar and Myanmar having this particular garnet. But the best Rhodolite garnet is said to come from Umba River Valley in Tanzania.

2. THE TOP RHODOLITE GARNET

An unusual precious stone was found in the Umba River Valley in Tanzania in 1978. The stone had the features of Rhodolite but its purple pink color was so bright, radiant, visually stimulating and eye catching, more captivating than any other rhodolite available. These qualities earned it the name ‘Umbalite Garnet’ with some even calling this stone ‘The King of Rhodolite’.

3. THE RHODOLITE STONE CAN HEAL.

Rhodolite garnets are said to have esoteric healing elements within them like many other minerals. They can be used to deal with negative feelings and emotions in the heart like shame, guilt and bad memories. They can also help with physical healing of the body especially with the heart, lungs and the hips. Rhodolite is also used to enhance sexual and romantic emotions with many couples testifying to its powers.

4. RHODOLITE GOES WELL WITH GOLD AND SILVER.

Rhodolite garnets are a fine complement to any design or object with gold and silver enhancing their look and beauty. Silver highlights the rose color in rhodolite garnets of the light pink colored variants while gold enhances the luster of the deep violet colors present in almost all rhodolite varieties, particularly the ones with darker hues. These qualities, alongside the hardness levels of rhodolite garnets which measure around 7.0 -7.5 makes them suitable for any type of jewelry like necklaces, pendants, rings and brooches.

5. JEWELERS LIKE RHODOLITE

Jewelers have used garnets like Rhodoliteto enhance their products for centuries. There are even famous jewelers like Faberge who use the reddish stones to make jewelry. One of these jewelries was the Rhodolite scarab brooch produced for 150 years by Faberge before its stoppage a few years after the Second World War. It was made up of the rhodolite stone itself, diamonds, rubies, enamel and silver and is one of the prime examples of Faberge’s rhodolite jewelry making expertise still available today.

6. A LOT OF NICKNAMES FOR RHODOLITE.

The wondrous spectacle of the Rhodolite stones has spawned a lot of nicknames by many jewelers and collectors. Some of these nicknames include the Arizona Ruby, the New Mexico Ruby, The Arizona Spinel and the Montana Ruby.

7. THE NUMBER ONE COLOR OF GARNET STONES IS RED

Garnet refers to a group of 10 variants of precious stones, categorized by their chemical elements and color. Red is the color most garnets come in, though they also come in yellow, green and bright orange. They don’t come in blue though there are greenish blue garnets which are prone to color change.

8. RHODOLITES HAVE BEEN USED TO KILL

Rhodolite garnets were once used to kill people through the gun bullets they were used to make by some Asiatic tribes some hundreds of years ago. They weren’t the only garnets used for those purposes then as it was believed that these stones were more effective than lead as bullets. A tribe based in northern Pakistan, the Hanza is the last group recorded to have used rhodolite garnet bullets when fighting the British in 1890.