Where Is The Star Garnet Found?

There are only two places in the world you can find Star Garnets – India and

right here on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests

! The garnets found here are called “star garnets” because of a unique property that causes some of them to display a reflection like a four or six pointed star.

How much are star garnets worth?

Cut and polished, a ”star garnet” is an attractive burgundy-colored jewel worth

$10 to $125 a carat

.

Where do star garnet come from?

Star garnets come from

Emerald Creek, Idaho and a few other lesser Idaho locations

. India was once considered the only other existence of Star Garnet. There are a couple of other US states with rare occurrences of Star Garnet. New to the market are some reportedly brownish red stars from Russia.

Is Star garnet rare?

Star Garnets are

rare gemstone than Star Rubies or Star

Sapphires and are only found in Idaho (northwest region of US) and India. Generally, the Idaho Star Garnet has four rays but occasionally some have 6 rays in Sapphires.

How do you identify a star garnet?

Star garnet gemstones are usually opaque and deep brownish-red or reddish-black. Like all star gems, the star effect is caused by inclusions of rutile. In order to display the star effect, the rutile needles

must have the correct alignment to reflect light in a pattern forming a

mult-rayed star.

Are garnets worth any money?

Because they are available in so many different colours, garnet stone prices can vary dramatically. They tend to range from

around $500 a carat with inclusions

, up to around $7000 per carat for the larger, clean stones. The most valuable garnet is Demantoid and it’s priced near the top of the spectrum.

How much is a 1 carat garnet worth?

Prices range from

$500 a carat for good colors with some inclusions

, to $2,000 to $7,000 for clean larger stones with top color. Demantoid garnet is the rarest and most valuable of the garnets and is one of the rarest of all colored gemstones. It is remarkable for its brilliance and fire.

What are star garnets used for?

The star garnet stone is often use in

jewelry as necklace, pendant, ring, earrings

, and also as rough.

How are star garnets formed?

The “star” formation is created

by diffracted light hitting trace minerals within the stone

. The stone must be cut a very specific way for this to be revealed, but when it happens you will find a brilliant pattern that has an almost 3D effect when you move it around in the light.

How many types of garnets are there?

There are

more than twenty garnet categories

, called species, but only five are commercially important as gems. Those five are pyrope, almandine (also called almandite), spessartine, grossular (grossularite), and andradite. A sixth, uvarovite, is a green garnet that usually occurs as crystals too small to cut.

Is Rhodolite the same as garnet?

Put simply,

rhodolite garnet is rose-coloured garnet

. … Lighter in hue than most other red garnets, rhodolite can be distinguished from its darker red siblings thanks to its rich rose-to-raspberry tones with subtle purple variations. Chemically, it’s a mix of two varieties of red garnet.

How do you cut a star garnet?

Use a

pinpoint light source to isolate a star’s location

on a slightly-polished rough piece. Cut out the desired rough piece perpendicular to the star orientation. Dop the stone for shaping!

How do you mine garnet?

Methods of mining garnet from the earth vary. Open pit mining is common for hard rock locations, as is hand mining, depending on the mine’s location. Garnet extracted from alluvial deposits is done so using

backhoes and draglines

.

Can garnets be blue?

Garnet species are found in every colour, with reddish shades most common.

Blue garnets are the rarest

and were first reported in the 1990s.

What can I do with raw garnet?

1. Lapidary. Most rough garnet is sent to a lapidary–one who cuts and polishes rough gemstones. …
2. Stringing. Rough garnet crystals can also be left in their natural state and tumbled, or given a mild buffing and drilled through. …
3. Setting. …
4. Wire Wrapping.

Where can you look for gems in Idaho?