Artificial pomegranate. Is garnet a precious, semi-precious or ornamental stone? Grossular may be

Natural garnet is a whole family of minerals whose general chemical properties can be clearly shown by the formula R2 + 3 R3 + 2 3. Depending on the elements in place, the values ​​​​of R2 (magnesium, calcium, iron or manganese) and R3 (chromium, aluminum, iron ), the color and hardness of the crystal will be different. Garnets are hard stones, and their hardness is from 6.5 to 7.5 Mohs.

In nature, this semi-precious mineral is found in all colors of the rainbow except for blue. Pink, yellow, green, red - not all shades of pomegranate. Purple garnet is less common, but the most popular and common is all such red gem. The most rare and expensive is green garnet.

The description of the pomegranate is already found in ancient scrolls and papyri. The precious mineral was already known to the ancient Romans, Egyptians and Persians. The stone was used not only as a piece of jewelry, it was also used to encrust dishes made of silver and gold, belts, sword hilts and shields of warriors. The garnet crystal was considered the stone of Mars, the god of war, but owes its name to its resemblance to the seeds of the pomegranate fruit.

Garnet crystals occur in igneous rocks - shales and gneisses. In the case of schist, garnet (and in this particular case, almandine) is the rock-forming mineral. Its companions are often micas, chlorite, and disthene. In this case, the origin of the mineral is metamorphic.

The second option for the formation of these semi-precious gems is the contact process, otherwise called skarn. For the occurrence of such types of minerals as grossular and andradite, the rock must be in contact with limestone rocks, rhodolites, eclagites, etc.

In skarns, garnets are accompanied by iron, copper, and lead sulfites, as well as salite, vesuvianian, scheelite, etc. Garnets are often included in igneous rocks, such as peridotites and kimberlites, granite, and appear on the surface due to the activity of volcanoes.

Natural garnet is a very resistant material, therefore, when the rock is weathered, this gem is not subject to destruction, but turns into a placer.

Garnet deposits

Precious garnet is mined all over the world, and the description of the deposits has been known since antiquity. In Europe, these are the Czech Republic, Finland and Norway. In North America, the mineral is mined in Canada and the USA, and in South America, in Brazil. In Asia, the main pomegranate miners are India and Sri Lanka, and in Africa, South Africa and Madagascar.

This gem is also mined in Russia - in the Ural Mountains. Russian grenades have a beautiful green color and are highly valued. Some stones can cost up to $20,000.

The rarest and most mysterious type of pomegranate is "ant's blood". This precious blood-red mineral appears as droplets in the place of giant anthills after rains. This happens periodically in the United States on the Navajo Indian reservations, and its description is found in ancient legends.

Since people understood the nature of precious stones, learned their composition and revealed the conditions for their formation, they have been striving to become like nature and reproduce stones. with my own hands with the help of more and more new knowledge and technologies, and today they are successfully succeeding. Now people know how to make many types of jewelry and jewelry and semi-precious stones, which could not but affect the attitude towards minerals and prices, although the reason for the production of most stones is primarily the requirements of the industry, and only secondly - the demands of the jewelry market. However, passions around natural minerals and their artificially grown counterparts do not subside: there are lovers of natural stones who consider grown stones to be something fake, a kind of surrogate, and there are those who like any mineral, whether it is grown by man or nature.

In order not to get confused, you should immediately decide: there are imitations, but there are synthetic analogues of natural stones. Imitation- this is a material similar to natural stones in appearance and in some properties; imitations can be both artificially created minerals, and natural, natural, as well as materials that have nothing to do with minerals (glasses, plastics, etc.) or are combinations of all these materials. For example, natural colorless zircon, and artificially created cubic zirconia (which is often called zirconium in the trade), and simple glass, which does not even have crystal structure. If the seller passes off these materials as a diamond, they can be considered fakes. Synthetic analog- a mineral created by man, that is, artificially grown (for example, a synthetic diamond). Its characteristics correspond to the chemical composition, physical and optical properties of a diamond, and sometimes even surpass them, and its origin can only be established in a gemological laboratory, and with some stones it is difficult - they are so close to natural. In the "Gem Gallery" catalog you can see jewelry, in the descriptions of which the terms "synthesized ruby", "synthesized opal", etc. are used. - these are the grown stones.

Perhaps it cannot be attributed to one or the other category. refined materials- natural minerals, which have improved (in fact, changed) texture and / or color. This can be done by heating, X-ray irradiation, impregnation with resins, polymers, dyes, and the like. For example, reinforced turquoise is a natural, but very loose and soft turquoise, unsuitable in this form for jewelry inserts, which is strengthened by impregnation with special resins and sometimes dyes. It is clear that in this form, turquoise can no longer be considered completely natural, natural.

In our article, we will only talk about human-grown stones - we will look at some artificially created stones that are used for inserts in jewelry.

Diamond

“I knew that it would take ten years, or even twenty, which can take away from a person all his strength, all his energy, but even then the game was worth the candle,” said the hero of HG Wells’ story “The Man Who Made Diamonds.” Usually, the synthesis of mineral crystals is associated with their demand in industry, in their application in high technology, but the stone itself attracts people, and the ability to repeat nature is even more so. diamond was one of the first such minerals. The first attempts to get diamonds were registered at the end of the 19th century, but they were unsuccessful. For the first time, artificial diamonds were synthesized in Sweden and the USA in 1954 (General Electric Company), and officially six years later - in the USSR. However, back in 1939, professor-physicist Ovsey Ilyich Leipunsky from the Institute of Chemical Physics described a method for obtaining diamonds, which involved the use of high pressures and temperatures of 1500-3000 degrees. Under these conditions, the loose crystal lattice of graphite can transform into a dense packing of the diamond structure. Such conditions were technically impossible at that time, but Leipunsky's work was studied by many specialists, including the Swedes; they later used the method described by O. I. Leipunsky: pressure, temperature, as well as the addition of iron and some other materials to graphite. This facilitates the synthesis process, carbon becomes mobile and quickly forms diamond lattice. The size of the crystals obtained at that time did not exceed only 0.8 mm, therefore they were used as abrasives. Large diamond crystals were synthesized later, this procedure is much more complicated and expensive. It is especially costly to synthesize large, more than one carat, and namely colorless diamond crystals, therefore their mass production is impossible, and there are mainly stones weighing one carat or less on the market.

One of the world's largest manufacturers of synthetic rough and polished diamonds, the Belarusian enterprise Adamas BSU (Adamas BSU), uses the BARS method (non-pressing apparatus "Cut Sphere") here. The basic technology based on this method was developed back in the USSR at the very beginning of the nineties; technology stands for "a method of crystallizing diamond from a carbon solution under conditions of a temperature gradient in a metal melt based on iron and nickel using high pressures." It will take about a hundred hours to synthesize a diamond weighing one carat in the BARS apparatus, which will be six cycles per month, that is, six carats. Unfortunately, only mass production of bright yellow crystals is possible. There are similar installations in Russia too, but they do not work for the jewelry market. Adamas BGU produces both technical raw materials and materials for the jewelry industry, and the share of the latter is steadily growing. This is due to a combination of reasons: a decrease in the production of natural diamonds, a constant increase in demand for diamonds, the decision of leading gemological laboratories, for example, GIA (Gemological Institute Of America) to accept synthetic diamonds for certification, the development of technology that makes it possible to obtain crystals of all bigger size and more and more fantasy colors while reducing the amount of "idle" synthesis. The market is gradually getting used to synthetic diamonds, and Belarus even adopted a special national program to develop the production of synthetic diamonds. However, there is no need to talk about cheap diamond jewelry yet.

Corundum (sapphire, ruby)

Some of the most outstanding achievements of science and technology, as a rule, are marked by the use of mineral crystals, their unique properties: optical, piezoelectric, semiconductor and others. The very first corundums in Russia were also initially synthesized with the aim of applying them in science: in precision instrumentation, the watch industry, etc. In 1936, the first corundum growing plant in Russia was put into operation, and soon a permanent production was established. The first industrial method for obtaining corundum (as well as spinel) and still the most common is the Verneuil method.

The French chemist Auguste Verneuil began his experiments on growing minerals at the end of the 19th century, but official year The birth of the first synthetic corundum is considered to be 1905. The method, in brief, is as follows: alumina powder is fed along with oxygen into a burner fire, which in turn is fed with hydrogen. Hydrogen-oxygen flame around 2050 degrees melts the powder, and the melt flows onto the prepared crystal carrier. Solidifying, the melt forms not a mineral crystal in the usual sense, but the so-called mineral boule - a rounded rod. Today it is possible to grow boules up to 5-8 cm in length and 2 cm in circumference (40-45 grams = 200-250 carats) in just a few hours. To get red corundum (ruby), chromium oxide is added to aluminum oxide powder; blue (sapphire) - add iron oxide and titanium. Nickel will color Corundum yellow. Star rubies and sapphires can also be grown. It has been produced in a similar way since the 1920s. spinel; for this, magnesium oxide and aluminum oxide are used. Spinels usually impart a sapphire blue, beautiful aquamarine or green coloration. "Gem Gallery" can offer the attention of lovers of precious stones Jewelry with synthetic ruby ​​and high quality sapphire.

Every year, 200 tons of synthetic corundum and spinel are produced all over the world for various needs. Faceted, they are indistinguishable from natural gemstones without special equipment and are gaining more and more space under the sun. But can they finally replace natural rubies and sapphires?

Alexandrite

Alexandrite is a variety of chryso beryl. This rare and very expensive stone belongs to the precious and has a unique effect: in daylight it is green, and in artificial light it turns red. The closest in properties imitation of Alexandrite and at the same time the most inexpensive is the same Corundum, only with the addition of vanadium and titanium during the synthesis process, which gives the stone an Alexandrite effect with an intense reverse from a faint bluish-greenish-gray to a rich red-violet, amethyst color. Actually synthetic Alexandrite is also grown; it is the most expensive synthetic analogue after a diamond. Information about the successful synthesis of an analogue of chryso-beryl-Alexandrite dates back to the second half of the 19th century.

In the USA, in 1964, an industrial method for obtaining alexandrite was tested, and since 1972, Creative Crystals (Saint-Ramon, Danville, California) has been growing alexandrite crystals using the flux method from solution. The solution of beryllium and aluminum oxides, cooling, serves as a "nutrient medium" for Alexandrite crystals, which grow from seven to nine weeks. In this way, the most beautiful Alexandrite crystals are obtained, which are difficult to distinguish from the famous Ural ones, which once made up the glory of Russian gems. The Japanese, on the other hand, produce Alexandrite by the Czochralski method (pulling a crystal from the melt) and call their product "inamori" and "cresent-vert": it also has the effect of a cat's eye, and its color changes from greenish-yellow with daylight to red-violet under artificial light.

In Russia, Alexandrite has been grown since 1980 in Novosibirsk, at the Design and Technological Institute of Single Crystals. It goes both for technical and jewelry purposes; some crystals reach half a kilogram in weight. Although the synthetic analogue corresponds to natural Alexandrite both in chemical formula and in most properties, natural Alexandrite remains unsurpassed in beauty. It looks great in gold, as, for example, in turquoise earrings from the Gem Gallery collection.

Natural Alexandrite (like any other natural stone) has inclusions, cracks and other defects that are invisible to the eye, which do not reduce the aesthetic effect, but greatly interfere with the use of crystals in precision instrumentation, in particular, in Alexandrite lasers in medical cosmetology and eye microsurgery, therefore synthetic stones that do not have defects and have all the desired properties are ideal for this purpose.

Emerald

Modern technologies make it possible to grow defect-free and fairly large Emerald crystals, which is very rare for natural crystals. By and large, grown Emeralds are no different from natural ones, except that they are too perfect. Synthetic Emeralds were obtained even before the Second World War, after which research in this area resumed with new force. The Americans from Chatham were among the first to establish the industrial synthesis of synthetic emeralds from solutions. in melt. Of course, in the USSR it was also decided to create Emeralds, only by “our” method, according to new technology. Now this technology, created in the 1970s by Novosibirsk scientists, is known all over the world, and Emeralds created with its help are called Russian Emeralds. We are still ahead of the rest: the Tyrus company, which was founded in 1989 on the basis of the Joint Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences by the same Siberian creators of Emeralds, is the market leader in artificial gems. Only in Tyrus and nowhere else in the world do they grow another variety of beryl besides the Emerald - aquamarines. For the synthesis of stones, a method is used that is closest to natural - hydrothermal, in an autoclave, using high pressures and temperatures. The process, by and large, is no different, and instead of thousands of years, only two or three months pass.

However, autoclaves, melts and high temperatures, both talent and intuition are needed, and much more, which can be called a gift to do this particular thing. After all, if you select the optimal composition of the charge (a mixture that will serve as a material for growth of crystals) just by experience, the whole life will go away, and even knowledge will not always help, rather, the totality of qualities that make a Creator out of a person.

Pomegranate

Garnets are ideal crystals for use in lasers; they began to be grown in order to obtain defect-free samples of the desired properties. Almost by accident, they began to be used in the jewelry industry. In the 1960s, the first samples were obtained in the USA, and by the end of the sixties, synthetic Garnets entered the jewelry market. Unlike natural garnets, synthetic garnets can be colorless. This is another illustration of the issue of grown and natural stones, the perfection of the first and the imperfection of the second: the ideal pyrope in nature should have been colorless, but because of the “extra” iron impurities, it is the way we know it - fiery red, and not happens differently.

Synthetic Garnets (Garnetites) are yttrium-aluminum (YAG), gadolinium-gallium (GGG) and yttrium-ferruginous (IGG). Colorless and colored yttrium-aluminum garnets, which have a high hardness (8.5 on the Mohs scale) and a good refractive index, which give them brilliance and strong play, turned out to be the most suitable for inserts into jewelry, both in terms of physical and optical properties and economically. YAG is grown different ways, mainly by the Czochralski method, which gives large crystals that lend themselves well to polishing.

Colorless Garnets sometimes replace diamonds. Even in London renowned for its conservatism towards jewelry, synthetic garnets began to be marketed in the early seventies as adequate substitutes for diamonds. This, in particular, was facilitated by the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor and the sensational story with her pear-shaped diamond. In 1969, Richard Burton (who starred with Taylor in Cleopatra and married her twice) presented her with a pear-shaped diamond weighing 69.42 carats. The actress usually wore this beautiful natural stone as a pendant, but the insurance for one evening cost a thousand dollars. Then Taylor ordered a copy of a diamond made of synthetic Garnet, similar in properties to a diamond, for three and a half thousand dollars. It was not difficult to distinguish the copy when it lay next to the diamond, but individually only an expert could do this. It just so happened that the fear of burglars, and perhaps insurers, contributed to the popularity of synthetic Garnets in general. In the Gem Gallery catalog there is a silver ring with fiery red synthetic Garnets that can outshine even small natural rubies.

Quartz (rock crystal, amethyst, citrine, ametrine)

The production of Quartz in comparison with the same diamonds or Emeralds does not cause great difficulties. It is grown hydrothermally in steel autoclaves; the growth rate of crystals is up to 0.5 mm per day. Synthetic Quartz you can give any shade, both imitating natural and fantasy, not found in nature. For example, bright blue Quartz is obtained by adding cobalt; citrine color is provided by iron; the more it is, the brighter the color, to orange-red. Black morion can be grown by increasing the concentration of aluminum, and rauch topaz is also obtained - smoky Quartz. One of the most popular varieties of Quartz - amethyst - is obtained after ionizing irradiation of synthetic smoky Quartz. It is extremely difficult to distinguish from natural, so it is very popular. Synthetic amethyst is most often very bright and clean, without defects and heterogeneities, uniform deep color; stones can be very large, but sometimes their color changes in sunlight and artificial light, demonstrating a kind of alexandrite effect. amethyst brushes are grown in our suburbs, but as long as there is inexpensive African raw materials, there is no need for mass production of amethysts and amethyst brushes. ametrine (amethyst-citrine), a polychrome mineral with two color zones - purple and yellow - was first found in Bolivia, so its second name is bolivianite. But you can grow ametrine artificially; it will cost an order of magnitude lower, and will bring pleasure to the owner no less than natural, which, by the way, can be found in a faceted form in the collection of precious stones and crystals of the Gem Gallery.

Synthetic opal, although with a stretch, can be called actually opal: it also has a layered structure, various colors and the play of colors, for example, white opals with multi-colored flashes, cut in the form of pearls and adorning the ring from the Gem Gallery catalog. Like natural, synthesized opal also consists of silicon layers. For a very long time it was believed that opal could not be obtained artificially; the study of the structure of this amazing mineral nevertheless made it possible to understand that synthesis is possible. The first patent for the production of noble opal was received by Australian mineralogists A. Gaskin and P. Darre, and in 1973 the Swiss jewelry firm of Pierre Gilson began selling a wide variety of noble synthetic opals, which were in no way inferior in color and opalescence power to natural stones.

High-quality synthetic opals are also made in Russia. Even when comparing natural and artificial opal, it is difficult to understand which one appeared in the laboratory. In addition, natural noble opal is very expensive, especially black, and incredibly capricious in storage and wear, and grown stones allow you not to be afraid of any accidents.

Turquoise

The mentioned company of Pierre Gilson in the mentioned 1972 also received artificial turquoise, the closest to natural of all previously obtained, and therefore suitable for inserting into jewelry. Such turquoise is very uniform, has a beautiful turquoise color, and cabochons made of such material are difficult to distinguish from natural ones even in a professional laboratory. All indicators (density, hardness, etc.) are the same, and even the best Iranian turquoise in the world is indistinguishable from artificial. In Russia, both uniform blue and gossamer turquoise are obtained, with a pattern of dark veins. You can try to compare beads made of natural turquoise and Golden ring with synthesized turquoise from the Gem Gallery collection to see how similar the materials are.

Pearl

Pearl is in a special position among minerals: firstly, it is a mineral of organic origin, secondly, artificial, or cultivated. Pearl, in fact, differs from natural only in that it grows in a mollusk shell under human supervision. Back in the 19th century, the Chinese and Japanese began to cultivate Pearls, so it was in the East that a special attitude towards such Pearls developed and their own pearl traditions developed. The mollusks that are able to grow a pearl in their mantle are the martensi pinctada, the maxima pinctada, and the margaritifera pinctada, which grow up to thirty centimeters in diameter. This latter produces black, grey, bluish, green and bronze Pearls.

The method of obtaining Pearls is quite simple: the pearl shell is first grown in fresher water than sea water, in special fenced off areas to avoid attacks by predators; then, after three years, a ball of natural mother-of-pearl (or a piece of mantle) is placed inside the shells; further pearl mussels grow from one and a half to eight years (in two to three years on average) in saltier water further offshore. They are protected and cared for. Japanese Akoya cultured pearls are famous all over the world for their wonderful brilliance and various shades. This is a classic cultured pearl. Akoya pearls are produced not only in Japan, but also in Korea, China and Sri Lanka and can be white, yellow, pink, silver, champagne, green, cream.

You can diagnose cultured pearls with the help of ultraviolet rays: it will emit a greenish light, and natural - blue. "Gem Gallery" offers several shades of Pearls: white (classic beads of 45 cm, ideal for a round and oversized neck line), cream (earrings), gray (rings), the collections are constantly updated with new models with different colors.

It is interesting that in Russia there were attempts to grow pearls: the merchants Stroganovs in the 17th century set up experiments in Solvychegodsk, where a pond called Zhemchuzhny was preserved. Cheslav Khmelevsky grew pearls up to 5 mm in diameter in the east of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century.

And the victory is awarded...

As it turns out, there are not so many synthetic analogues of jewelry stones; hardly twenty, but this is quite enough for the jewelry market, especially since there are many more imitations of stones, and they are also successfully sold, although the buyer is not always aware of this. And it’s much more pleasant to buy, albeit synthetic, but ruby than a "sandwich" of glass, quartz and colored glue, and even more expensive. natural stones, of course, will never lose their customer; they are valuable because each of them is unique and has been growing for hundreds, millions of years. All impurities, defects, inclusions and heterogeneities only add to their individuality, which explains, in the end, their attractiveness and desire to admire them. But many of them, as a rule, are the most beautiful, difficult to obtain, and even more difficult to buy: the price for the love of beauty is too high. In this regard, we can be grateful to the grown stones: flawless, they invariably follow the same goal - to be even better, even more beautiful.

Garnet stone has been known to people for a long time. Mystical and healing properties were attributed to this precious stone, and, of course, it was widely used in jewelry. It is one of the twenty most expensive stones in the world and is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful minerals.

The history of the origin of the stone

Own modern name received the garnet stone in 1270. It was then that the famous alchemist Albert Magnus, describing this rare red mineral, gave it the name - "garnet". This word is related to the term "granules" and literally translated from Latin means "granular".

Indeed, natural garnet occurs in nature in the form of small rounded granules. Moreover, the size of the raw mineral does not exceed the grains of the tropical fruit of the same name.

In ancient times, each nation gave this gem its own name:

1. "Chervets" or "lal" - in Rus'.
2. "Bijazi" - in the Arab East (in Russia, this word was gradually transformed into "bechet" and quickly took root among the people).
3. The ancient Greeks called this gem "anthrax" - a burning coal.
4. And the ancient Roman name, also translated as "coal" - "carbuncle" - was used until the 19th century.

Description of the pomegranate

Pomegranate is one of the most worthy rivals. They are similar both in appearance and in their physical properties (although ruby ​​is a harder mineral). Outwardly, the garnet looks like a transparent or translucent stone with a glassy shiny, very smooth surface.

Pomegranate patronizes travelers, warriors, lovers, women who are expecting a child, and people in difficult life situations.

Colors and varieties

Most often, when talking about a pomegranate, we mean the classic dark red or, in extreme cases, pink color this mineral. However, these are far from the only varieties. The color of the garnet stone can vary from scarlet to yellow, green and even transparent.

pyrope

Red pomegranate, the most common. Its name comes from the Greek word "pyropos" - similar to fire. Magnesium and aluminum salts give a peculiar shade to the stone.

Almandine

A mineral with a high content of potassium and magnesium. Depending on their concentration, the color can vary from deep red to brown, purple and pink. It is to this variety that the “Bohemian”, or “Czech”, garnet belongs - a very expensive, almost transparent gem of a light pink hue.

In Rus', brought from the Arab East, they called the "Syrian pomegranate."

Grossular

Allumocalcium silicate, the color of which is given by iron ore salts. The very name of this stone comes from the Latin name of the gooseberry, which speaks better than any words about appearance grossular: small rounded stones shine with all shades of green and yellow.

Grossular can be:

• light grassy;
• orange-yellow;
• dark brown;
• transparent;
• and even extremely rare color sea ​​wave (he bears the name hydrogrossular in mineralogy);

Uvarovite

An extremely rare emerald green garnet found in only a few deposits in the world. It was first discovered in the Urals, in the Saranovsky mine, in 1832 and named after the Russian academician and Minister of Education, Sergei Uvarov. This stone is often called the "Ural emerald".

This mineral got its name in honor of its discoverer - José d'Andrada. In nature, this type of pomegranate has different shades- from yellow and greenish-marsh, to brown and even red. The most popular varieties of andradite are:

Melanite

Incredibly rare black garnet, characterized by an opaque, matte structure. In fact, this color is a deaf dark red, but due to the lack of brilliance, the stone absorbs almost the entire spectrum of sunlight, which makes it look like a coal-dark.

Shorlomit

Another type of black garnet, rich in iron salts, due to which the edges of the stone cast a bright sheen with a metallic tint.

Demantoid

The rarest transparent gem, distinguished by a light green color. Its name means, literally, "like a diamond", although outwardly it resembles, rather,. This mineral is often found in the decoration of Russian palaces of the 18th-19th centuries.

Spessartine

For the first time, this stone began to be mined in the town of Spessarti, in Germany - it was from here that official name this type of pomegranate. The main colors are yellow, brown, and pink, although there are also examples of a red tint.

Hessonite

Or in other words, "essonite", "cinnamon stone" - garnet of all shades of brown. Most often in nature there are yellow, honey, orange, and purple hues. Cinnamon-colored hessonites are occasionally found. It is one of the least hard types of pomegranate. Actually, the word "hesson" itself means in Latin "weak", "smaller".

Rhodolite

Some minerologists distinguish it into a separate group, but in fact it is a hybrid of almandine and pyrope. The high content of iron also determines the colors found in this mineral: red and pink in any shade.

leucogarnet

This is the general name for all minerals of this group, which are distinguished by a transparent color.

Chemical composition and physical properties

Garnets are silicates with a high content of magnesium, calcium and iron. Depending on the chemical composition, their individual types are classified as both precious and semi-precious, ornamental stones. The general formula of all these minerals looks like this: Mg + Fe + Mn + + Ca + 3Al23.

At the same time, each subspecies of pomegranate has its own chemical composition. It is from the concentration of certain elements that the shades of garnet, density and brilliance depend.

Despite how many varieties a stone has, its properties for all "grades" remain approximately the same.

Pomegranate molecules have a cubic lattice and form either rhombododecahedrons (closed compounds of 12 faces) or tetragoptrioctahedrons (24 faces).

Scientists divide all grenades into two main subspecies:

1. Pyralspites dominated by iron, magnesium and manganese; form a 12-sided crystal lattice; this is the structure of pyrope, spessarine, and almadine.
2. Ugrandites, high in calcium (as in grossulars and andradites). The molecules of these gems form into tetragoptrioctahedrons.

The hardness of these gemstones ranges on the Mohs scale from 6.5 (like hessonite) to 7.5 (like almandine). Garnet can be easily polished with a diamond, but if you run it over glass, it leaves a shallow scratch.

At the same time, it is quite brittle and breaks easily with a strong impact. So processing it is not such a simple matter.

The density of this mineral is low: on average from 3700 to 3930 kg per cubic meter.

The surface of the pomegranate is smooth to the touch, glassy. But the edges of the break, on the contrary, are uneven and rough.

In nature, this gem is found in medium-sized druze. These stones are not large. The largest garnet, a fire pyrope the size of a pigeon's egg, was discovered in Germany and weighed 633 carats.

Place of Birth

Garnets are mined all over the world. Their deposits are found on almost all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. Pomegranates are found in Russia, USA, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Zambia, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka and some other countries.

In Russia, the largest deposits are in Yakutia (very rare fiery red pyropes are mined there), on the Kola Peninsula, Chukotka and the Urals. It is the Ural mines that supply jewelers with a significant part of green uvarovites.

In the USA, on the border of the states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, one of the most amazing types of this gem is mined: "Ant" or "Arizona" garnet.

These tiny, no more than one and a half carats, stones are brought to the surface by ants during the construction of their "palaces". Surprisingly, with all efforts, it was not possible to detect these bright red granules by the mine method.

Who suits the zodiac sign?

Although magical properties This stone is universal in many ways, astrologers advise people, before buying jewelry with garnet, to check whether their patron constellation is combined with the magical properties of the "fiery" stone.

For those who decide to purchase a garnet stone, the zodiac sign is very important:

1. : pyropes and other varieties of red pomegranates are categorically contraindicated for people born during this period. But hessonite, grossular and uvarovite will give its owner success in matters of the heart, help to remain faithful in separation and strengthen a sense of trust in their "soulmate".
2. For Pisces this stone is great remedy helping to normalize blood pressure, avoid infections. True, they are also not allowed to carry red grenades.
3. Aries: pomegranate is useful to them as a means to cope with irascibility, to avoid quarrels. It also helps in the fight against various phobias.
4. Taurus do not buy pomegranate jewelry.
5. Gemini you need to be careful with this stone: it not only gives self-confidence, but also gives rise to passions that are not easy for the ardent nature of Gemini to fight.
6. Crayfish. For them, grenades are contraindicated, only green varieties can be exceptions.
7. For Lviv pomegranate products are useless, although not dangerous.
8. Virgins this gem will help you find harmony, find your way in life.
9. Scales: they sometimes need a pomegranate as a way to calm their nerves, to humble their impulses.
10. Scorpions this gem will help moderate your ambitions, achieve peace of mind, help you reach agreement in friendship. At the same time, pomegranate will help this sign develop their leadership skills.
11. archers they will feel a surge of strength from this gem - both mental and physical.
12. Capricorns: pomegranate will help them gain self-confidence, give strength and insight to make the right decision.

Who suits the names?

It is extremely important to determine in advance, when buying a garnet stone, who suits and who does not, such an ornament. The element of garnets is fire (especially for pyropes and almandines), as well as earth and water. This stone also has patron planets: the Moon, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and the Sun.

Pomegranate is an excellent life talisman for people with names:

• Alexandra (only for women - for Alexander men, this mineral will be useless);
• Alla;
• Anton;
• Valeria;
• Basil
• Galina;
• Ludmila;
• Maria;
• Nikita;
• and Tamara;

magical properties

Few stones have as many mystical secrets as the "garnet" stone - magical properties have been attributed to it since ancient times, and even now many psychics use this mineral in their practices.

Pomegranate has long been considered a symbol of a strong spirit, pure heart and high spiritual qualities. Therefore, gemologists advise people with a weak character to carry garnet with them, so that this mineral will help them develop a strong inner core in themselves.

Since ancient times, this mineral has personified love and other heartfelt feelings.

According to the medieval “language of stones”, the gift of a pomegranate product meant passionate (perhaps even unrequited) love. It was considered undesirable to wear pomegranate jewelry in the presence of children or adolescents, since this gem is able to awaken passions in a person.

At the same time, he was revered as a symbol of marital fidelity. It was believed that pomegranate gives success in love and helps to keep feelings apart. It was often given to newlyweds for a wedding, and for families whose marriage is threatened with destruction, this stone is very useful.

The benefits of green varieties are especially great. Their energy helps to strengthen family ties, and for a woman, in addition, serves as an assistant in "women's worries."

The magic of these stones is also associated with the gift of clairvoyance. It is believed that if a pomegranate is dreamed of at night, then soon this person will have to resolve a serious problem or make a difficult choice.

Medicinal properties

The beneficial properties of pomegranate have been known to healers since ancient times.

In lithotherapy, this mineral is used for many diseases:

• inflammation;
• diseases of the respiratory system;
• skin diseases;
• allergies;
• metabolic disorders and endocrine diseases;
• and many other problems.

Legend has it that a pomegranate set in gold can even relieve migraines (which modern medicine still cannot cope with).

A garnet stone is extremely useful for a woman “in position”: it is believed that it makes the course of pregnancy more calm and guarantees easy childbirth. In ancient times, jewelry was often made from this gem especially for pregnant women.

Talismans and amulets

Since ancient times, people have used amulets from this gem. For example, any traveler tried to take a garnet ring or pendant on the road.

Pomegranate is considered an amulet that can both keep and win the love of another person. Scandinavian legend says that Ogren, the zwerg, fell in love with Freya, the goddess of love, forged a beautiful necklace in order to achieve her favor.

For men, another property attributed to the pomegranate is especially important. It symbolizes masculinity, fortitude, courage.

Many warriors wore jewelry made from this mineral, as it was considered a strong amulet that protected from wounds and death in battle. They were encrusted with weapons, armor, helmets. And during the period of the Crusades, almost every knight had a ring with a garnet, designed to keep it in battle.

Pomegranate products have a very strong energy, because of this, you should not wear it continuously, you should take it off from time to time and let it “rest”.

Decorations

Garnet is a stone, jewelry from which has always been very popular. In the Middle Ages, beads, earrings or a pendant made of this mineral were sure to be in the jewelry box of any woman from the noble class.

Usually this gem is set in gold. However, it also looks good with silver, especially often this combination is used for low-quality garnets. Indeed, according to jewelry traditions, it is not customary to insert a semi-precious stone into gold jewelry.

Other uses of the stone

Garnets were often present in the ceremonial attire of courtiers, in the attire of noble people, and even in the decoration of palaces. For example, the Faceted Chamber in the Kremlin is entirely encrusted with this particular mineral. The famous Faberge jeweler was very fond of this mineral: many of his caskets and precious toys were made using garnet fragments.

These gems are widely used in various industries. So, garnet is an excellent ferromagnet, due to which it is used in electronics. It is also added to some building mixtures. From this mineral (as well as from ruby), parts of optical systems and lasers can be made.

Price

Garnet, despite its beauty, is not a very expensive stone.

For garnet stones, the price depends on the quality and size and, of course, on the rarity of the color:

1. Amaldin can be bought for 1900 rubles per 1 carat.
2. Rhodolite - 1700 rubles.
3. The cost of pyrope starts from 1170 rubles.
4. One of the most expensive garnets is spessartine. For example, a copy weighing 4.7 carats is estimated at 35 thousand rubles.

But the price of a “garnet” stone of technical quality starts from a few dollars per carat - for example, Nigerian pebbles for industry can be bought at 150-600 rubles per carat.

On many sites jewelry theme and handmade, summary tables are presented, where the price (in rubles and dollars) is indicated for different types grenade. So, earrings with a garnet stone in a gold frame can be bought starting from 7,000 rubles.

Care

Garnets are capricious minerals. You need to store them in a dark, cool enough (but not cold!) Place. Each stone must be laid separately or wrapped in a piece of cloth. For jewelry made from these gems, separate boxes are required.

Garnet jewelry can be cleaned with a soft brush. To do this, you need to fill the stones with water for a while, and then gently wash them with soapy water.

There are several ways to identify a real pomegranate:

1. Take the stone to a jewelry store and ask for expert advice.
2. You can distinguish a pomegranate from a fake by rubbing it with a woolen cloth. Natural stone will quickly become electrified - you can check this by carrying it past fluffs or your own hair.
3. Garnet has slight magnetic properties. You can check this with small metal shavings.
4. Another way to check authenticity is to swipe across the glass. Natural stone should leave a thin scratch on the glass.

artificial pomegranate

Natural garnet is not such a rare mineral. However, modern scientists are making many attempts to "grow" these stones in artificial conditions. This is how synthetic silicate was created -. He was raised in the USSR in 1968 for the needs of nuclear energy.

This gem is distinguished by a variety of colors that natural garnets cannot boast of: for example, cubic zirconia of an incredible lavender hue is known - but in nature Blue colour impossible for these minerals.

1. Red garnets - pyrope - are mentioned in Kuprin's story "garnet bracelet", where this decoration symbolizes unrequited, but sincere and pure love.
2. According to legend, a fiery grenade was installed on the nose of Noah's Ark, illuminating the way for the escaped people.

A photo

Natural garnet stone is one of the most beautiful - extraordinary, with rich color and amazing brilliance. In nature, there are various colors of this stone: red and dark red, orange, purple, black, green and purple. Its shape is similar to the grains of the pomegranate fruit. Even in the Middle Ages, the alchemist Albert Mangus called this stone "granatus" (translated from Latin - "like grains").

Pomegranate and its varieties

Regardless of the shade, the stone differs in one feature - "Grains" of pomegranate have a complex and incredibly beautiful shade. The composition of the mineral directly affects the color, for example, the high iron content gives the stone an exquisite red hue (most often found in nature).

Mineral types

Pebbles have many varieties, which are represented by different names. Among them, the most famous are:

physical characteristics

All species are similar in general composition and physical properties stone. The pomegranate has the following main characteristics:

magical properties

In addition, a mineral of any shade helps with viral infections to relieve fever. Chronic bronchitis responds better to treatment with constant close contact with pomegranate. Even with him, women can more easily tolerate the course of menstruation.

The main thing to remember is that for the purpose of prevention, you can use the healing properties of this gem without fear. But at serious illness be sure to consult a doctor.

Hello friends! Natural stone has special magical and medicinal properties, which in the case of imitation is not necessary. How to distinguish red, yellow, green and even black garnet from a fake, by what signs can this be done? Here are some tips from gemologists for you.

What is a real pomegranate and what properties does it have

In the jewelry world, garnets are not used as often as more "advanced" stones, for example:

• diamonds;
• rubies;
• emeralds;
• sapphires, etc.

Meanwhile, the mineral has excellent properties: durable, unpretentious and, most importantly, noble and elegant. It belongs to the group of semi-precious and ornamental stones, in nature it is found mainly in the form of small rocks in the typical form of garnet grain, from which it got its name.

Not everyone knows that natural pomegranate is not necessarily red, raspberry or burgundy. Nature did not stint on paints when it planned the creation of a mineral. There are breeds:

• honey orange;
• rose red;
• burgundy;
• green;
• dark almost black;
• red-lilac;
• orange-red, etc.

The color of the mineral is affected by the components included in the composition. A thorough knowledge of the properties of the stone will allow you not to make a mistake when choosing.

Real garnet stone is a crystalline mineral. In nature, it is formed in places with an abundance of kimberlite rocks with a high level of pyrope concentration. A whole group of minerals falls under this name. All of them have certain similarities, both in terms of the structure of the crystal network, and the main parameters.

As already noted, visually, the breed has much in common with a miniature pomegranate seed, although individual specimens are beyond understanding and reach the size of a chicken egg.

Genuine minerals are homogeneous and transparent, may have small inclusions. Gems shine in the likeness of diamonds, perfectly refract the sun's rays, are distinguished by color saturation and high hardness.

To create jewelry, samples without any defects are more often used. But even stones with small flaws have their own price, they are used in jewelry, though at a lower price.

The composition of the rock includes the main silicates Ca, Mg, Fe and some others. Additional inclusions are possible.

Garnet imitations - what materials are used

Fraudsters began to make the first attempts to fake garnet many hundreds of years ago, when the stone gained sufficient popularity and was in stable demand. In the Czech Republic, for example, where one of the symbols of the country is the Czech pomegranate, the scale of crimes related to counterfeiting has reached a colossal level. Shops sell stones, among which every second is artificial.

As materials for imitation of a mineral, artificial stones are most suitable. It can be cubic zirconia painted in the desired color - at one time grown in one of the laboratories of the USSR. But even this option seems expensive to scammers, so they mostly use cheaper substitutes: glass and plastic. Moreover, they try to replace gems of all colors with glass, imitating brilliance and shades.

Moreover, for the large-scale production of fake garnets, glass production was brought to new level. Now this is a special "garnet glass" that replaces genuine minerals in jewelry and souvenirs.

Fake or genuine: how to determine

Start with the size of the stone. The authenticity of the pomegranate is indicated by standard parameters. In its raw form, the mineral is no more than a garnet grain, in its processed form it is even less. Stones of anomalous sizes are not often found in the world. All of them are assigned individual names. The best copies end up in museums, the rest are sold at auctions and go to private collections at a fabulous price.

Consider the hardness of the garnet. According to them, it can be distinguished from artificial quite simply. Swipe the mineral over the glass, traces should remain on the latter. If scratches appear on the stone, this is a fake.

Color is another indicator. Natural rock cannot be a perfect uniform color. Small inclusions, differences in color intensity, several shades of the same color - all these are indicators of naturalness.

easy to distinguish real mineral from glass by its ability to refract light. Consider a pomegranate in the sun - the play of rays or its absence will tell you the right decision.

The natural mineral is cool. It retains a relatively low temperature even in a warm palm, which makes it different from plastic and glass imitations.

An important property of natural stone is the ability to magnetize, again, unlike plastic and glass.

Now you know exactly how not to buy a fake pomegranate. Tell your friends about the selection rules, share the article on social networks!

Team LyubiKamni