Wine-red Garnet, 8mm round cabochon cut. The Garnet crystal family has many arms; the Wine-red Garnet is the most common type of Garnet, the best known and most recognized, belonging to the Almandine Garnet type. It has been a favourite gemstone since antiquity, is still a gemstone used in jewellery and is still easily obtainable. However, AGrade quality such as exhibited in the above matched Wine-red Garnet pair, is nowadays rare and increasingly costly.
India is the main world source for Almandine Garnet, and indeed the above pair has its source in that land, but these gemstones were mined in India, cut and polished in Jaipur Rajasthan, forty years ago, when AGrade quality such as this was normal; it is no longer normal, for these days most Almandine Garnet on the market is murky, heavily included, cloudy.
The above old stock Garnet pair has beautiful translucency and a lovely wine-red gleaming colour.