Garnet is January's Birthstone

If you're still young enough to remember your birthday, you probably also remember the special birthstone assigned to it. But at your age, we bet you don't really know the SIGNIFICANCE of your birthstone and what power the ancients felt would be bestowed about you by wearing it. January's birthstone: Garnet Garnet Powers: Facilitates night vision, ensures success Alternative Birthstone: Emerald Garnet is the birthstone for the month of January and the traditional anniversary gemstone for the second year of marriage. Archaeologists have found primitive garnet jewelry among the graves of lake dwellers which dates the use of this popular gemstone to the Bronze age. Today they are mined in Brazil, India, Madagascar, India, Siberia, Africa, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Not all garnets are of gem quality. "Raw" garnets make a very effective abrasive and used commercially for grinding and polishing. Believe it or not, garnet-coated sandpaper is popular for industrial use. Color Me Beautiful Garnets are extremely diverse and offer enough variety in appearance (and color) to suit every taste. Although you may think of garnet as a red gem, the truth is that the garnet family of gemstones comes in a broad spectrum of colors, except blue. Garnets of muted yellows, vibrant oranges, rosy pinks, lime greens, and violets are all part this gemstone's rainbow of hues. The diversity is due to unique combinations of elements within each particular gem, such as iron, calcium, and manganese. What's In A Name? Look at the seeds of a pomegranate and you'll immediately understand how the word "garnet" was derived from the Latin word "granatus," meaning "grain" or "seed." Garnet earned its name because of its close resemblance to the succulent red pomegranate seed. But don't bite into a garnet! Like a diamond, a garnet is strong. It has a Moh's scale hardness 6.5 to 7.5