Information and history of garnets plus a gallery of garnets used in antique and vintage brooches. Garnet species are found in many colors including red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, blue, black, pink, and colorless, with reddish shades most common. Garnet species’ light transmission properties can range from the gemstone-quality transparent specimens to the opaque varieties used for industrial purposes as abrasives. The mineral’s luster is categorized as vitreous (glass-like) or resinous (amber-like).
All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different species are pyrope, almandine, spessartine, grossular (varieties of which are hessonite or cinnamon-stone and tsavorite), uvarovite and andradite. The garnets make up two solid solution series: pyrope-almandine-spessartine and uvarovite-grossular-andradite.
Although garnets have been known since ancient times, the demantoid variety was not discovered until 1868 in Russia’s western central Ural Mountains. The find was an alluvial deposit about 110 kilometers from Ekaterinburg, north by northwest along the Bobrovka River, near the village of Elizavetinskoye. Miners were immediately stunned by the highly refractive nature of the gem material, which is atypical for garnet. They began comparing it to diamond and referred to it as “demantoid”, from the French demant, meaning diamond. Reference: Wikipedia
An emerald, demantoid garnet and diamond turtle brooch, circa 1890
The shell set centrally with an octagonal-shaped emerald, within a surround of circular-cut demantoid garnets and rose-cut diamonds, the head set with a cushion-shaped diamond, one eye deficient, length 3.2cm.
Sold for £ 1,875 inc. premium at Bonhams in 2017
SPINEL, GARNET, DIAMOND AND PASTE BUTTERFLY BROOCH
Circular-cut spinels and garnets, cushion-shaped, marquise and circular-cut diamonds, red paste, gold (French mark), 7.5 cm.
Sold for CHF 8,750 at Christies in 2018
Two-Color Gold, Garnet, Emerald and Diamond Butterfly Brooch
Yellow & white gold, 2 round & oval garnets, calibré-cut emeralds, small round & single-cut diamonds ap. .60 ct., ap. 15.4 dwts.
Garnets: deep violet-purple, lively.
Emeralds: medium deep green, slightly included, lively.
Diamonds: I-J-SI-Imperfect.
1 7/8 x 2 1/4 inches.
Sold for $1,000 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle New York in 2018
Orange garnet and irregular huit-huit diamond silver and gold openwork brooch, g 11.98, length cm 4.50, width cm 2.90 circa.
Sold for €180 at Il Ponte casa d’aste in 2018
Polish eagle brooch with a garnet body. This brooch in the shape of an eagle entered the collection of Louis XIV (1638–1715) in around 1669. It is decorated with rubies, pearls, and painted enamel, and is probably the work of a Parisian goldsmith. The jewel represents the emblem of Poland and symbolizes the close links between the French and Polish monarchies in the 17th century.
An eagle decorated with enamel and rubies
The eagle’s body is made of a large garnet cut with triangular facets. The body is set into a mount forming the head, talons, tail, and wings. This mount is set with rubies, all rectangular in cut except the two largest on the tail, which are heart-shaped. The wings are likewise set with thirty-eight rubies. The eagle holds in its talons the regalia of royalty—a crown and orb in blue enamel set with rubies, a scepter, and a sword. The rest of the mount is covered in white enamel, with the feathers painted in black enamel.
Made in Paris
The style of the enamel decoration and the way the rubies are arranged—particularly the small palmette motifs surrounding the two large rubies on the tail—seem to indicate that this piece was made in Paris. Similar gold mounts covered in white and colored enamel were common in the 17th century, both for stone vases and for pieces of jewelry such as this brooch.
Reference: The Louvre
Frankish gold and garnet disk brooch. The dress of Frankish women generally consisted of a tunic, cinched by a belt from which hung an array of pendants. A wrap or cloak went over the tunic. Shoes and hosiery, fastened with buckles, covered the legs. Earrings, necklaces, and hairpins completed the ensemble.
Aspects of this dress changed from the 300s to the 600s, and brooches in particular convey changes in taste. From the 300s to the 500s, pairs of small brooches, in an array of inventive shapes, held the wrap in place. By the 600s, a single large disc brooch, usually elaborately decorated, served the same function. No other piece of jewelry is more characteristic of Frankish dress than the brooch, and no other better demonstrates the virtuosity of Frankish metalworkers.
Emerald, green garnet and diamond brooch, ‘Paris’, Michele della Valle
The Parisian scenery set with circular-cut emeralds and green garnets and brilliant-cut and baguette diamonds, signed Michele della Valle, Italian assay mark for gold and maker’s mark.
Sold for 18,750 CHF at Sothebys in 2018
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