Garnet
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The Tucson 2015 Gem Show demonstrated that there are considerably more options than just the big three (ruby, sapphire and emerald) for buyers seeking fine quality gemstones. The availability of bigger and higher quality garnets in a range of colors, including colorchange was notable. Gem professionals know only too well that, although red garnets are common, it is no easy task to locate a fine quality rhodolite or spessartine of 10cts or larger. Dealers with fine red garnets in these sizes reported that the issue isn’t with demand; it is with trying to replace the stone after it’s sold. Similarly, in the orange category, fine grade mandarin garnets are also once again achieving greater popularity, and prices are responding in kind. Saturated yellow hessonites are always sought after. Rarer green garnets such as demantoid and tsavorite have enjoyed near steady demand.
Likewise, the lighter green grossular garnets, marketed as mint garnet, are enjoying a solid interest from consumers. And of all the garnets, perhaps the most unusual are the color-change ones. This rare member of pyrope-spessartine-almandine series garnet is appreciated by the collectors and the enthusiasts no longer merely as an affordable alternative to alexandrite, but now on…