Garnets AGrade wine-red. The forty-two 2.5mm round Garnet beads are of a lovely deep translucent rose` hue, almost a Rhodolite colour, while the teardrop cabochon cut pendant is of a deeper shade of red, of the Almandine variety.
Both the sweet little beads and the teardrop cabochon in the above “Garnets AGrade” necklet come from old gemstone stocks, originally purchased in Jaipur, Rajasthan, probably the biggest gem cutting and distributing centre of India, in the 1970s/1980s. Gemstones come into Jaipur from all over the world, for cutting and merchandising, but Garnet, particularly of the wine-red Almandine variety, has its major world source in India.
Over time, however, properly AGrade translucent Almandine Garnet has become increasingly difficult to source, to the point where most such gemstones on offer in the mid 2020s are murky, quite heavily included, lacking in transparency and liveliness of colour.
The Garnets in the above “Garnets AGrade” necklace are old stock, of the excellent quality that was considered normal forty years ago.
All the Silver work of this gemstone necklace is new, all of it handcrafted especially in the creation of the piece. Note the hand-fashioned twist wire-work securing every one of the forty-two bright little Garnet beads.