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FEATURE: GARNET JEWELRY

Hi all,
I am delighted this week to share an entire Newsletter of ALL GARNET jewelry! Bohemian garnets and garnet cabochons in necklaces,
bracelets, rings and earrings all from the early 1800s to the 20th century!

 

TO BUY wonderful pomegranate seed red garnets for your collection, please CLICK HERE.

GARNETS are the birthstone for January, although that does not stop those of us with other birth months from enjoying them. The Bohemian garnet was only found in Bohemia and was valued for its color, beauty and supposed curative and uplifting effects. Garnet jewelry is varied in style and garnets themselves range from multi-faceted reflectors of rich deep reds to cabochons, juicy as pomegranate seeds. They also come in almost all colors except blue.

Garnets were mounted in both low and higher karat yellow gold, gold plate and mixed metal settings and more recently in sterling. The history of garnet jewelry goes back hundreds of years and its longevity is no surprise when you see how glorious they are. Bohemian garnet jewelry is known for its encrusted close-set stones, which are often rose cut and sometimes combined with larger cabochons and faceted stones. (Bohemia became Czechoslovakia after World War I.)

An article in the "Journal of the Society of the Arts" August 25, 1892, states that at that time there were over 3000 cutters working in 500 shops in the Bohemian garnet industry. With the miners and other workers there were about 10,000 person making a living in the industry, and they certainly made a lot of wonderful jewelry.

REFERENCES:
Warmans Jewelry by Christie Romero, Ed 3
EV Roddin, 1887-9
Daniel Low Catalogue, 1901
S.F. Myers Catalogues, 1885-1889
Benjamin Allen & Co., 1899
A.C. Becken Catalogue, 1902
National Czech & Slovak Museum
Garnets on Wikipedia