Rock Talk: Gemstone Bullets?

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Gemstones are so amazing, that some are given their own months, otherwise known as birthstones. The dreary month of January is given the exciting stone of garnet as compensation. 

Did you know that Garnet is found in a variety of colors? The word “Garnet” describes a group of six closely related mineral families, all of which together comprise the Garnet family. The Garnet family includes Pyrope, Almandine, Grossular, Spessartite, Hessonite, Andradite and Uvarovite. Some Garnets exhibit optical phenomena such as asterism or chatoyancy & some show a change of color when viewed under different types of lighting. 

Garnets were used as the first traditional engagement ring long before diamonds became fashionable. Garnets actually have a high durability. 

But my favorite fact of this January birthstone is that between 1889 and 1892, the British took control of Hunza, an area made up with parts of Turkestan and China. Hunza natives used garnet gemstones fashioned into bullets to fight back, because they believed the blood-red stones would be more deadly than lead bullets.

Weird but cool, right? 

If you have any questions about anything in this edition of Rock Talk, you can contact the team at Erwin’s Jewelers in Olde Towne Bellevue – 229 West Mission Avenue. Erwin’s Jewelers has been serving Bellevue and the Omaha-Metro area for over 60 years!