{"id":26168,"date":"2024-05-24T10:40:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T05:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/?p=26168"},"modified":"2024-05-24T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T05:10:15","slug":"beyond-beauty-a-garnet-necklace-decoded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/beyond-beauty-a-garnet-necklace-decoded\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Beauty: A Garnet Necklace Decoded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two 2023 AGTA Spectrum Awards\u2014Best Use of Platinum and Color and Best Use of Platinum and Color Men\u2019s Wear\u2014were recently awarded to \u201cGaranatus: From Rough to Cut,\u201d a 29-inch platinum necklace set with more than 77 total carats of rare garnets. \u201cGaranatus\u201d is a play on the origin of garnet\u2019s name\u2014granatus<\/em>, Latin for \u201cseed-like,\u201d because of its resemblance to pomegranate seeds. The necklace was designed and fabricated by Mary van der Aa (Mary van der Aa Fine Jewels, Detroit) using 28 garnets that gem cutter Todd Wacks (Tucson Todd\u2019s Gems, Arizona) collected and hand-faceted over a span of 13 years; van der Aa collaborates with Wacks (figure 1) on all of her jewelry. These are her fourth and fifth Spectrum awards.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2. \u201cGaranatus: From Rough to Cut,\u201d a platinum necklace featuring 28 rare garnets, won two 2023 AGTA Spectrum Awards. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Mary van der Aa Fine Jewels and Tucson Todd\u2019s Gems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 3. The 18K gold half link features a QR code that leads to a website with details about the garnets and the necklace\u2019s creation. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Mary van der Aa Fine Jewels and Tucson Todd\u2019s Gems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The necklace design (figure 2) symbolizes the transformation from rough to faceted garnet. \u201cGaranatus\u201d actually consists of two necklaces that connect with tiny neodymium magnets to form 22 rhombic dodecahedrons\u2014the shape of a rough garnet crystal. Each of these magnetic links encases a garnet (figure 3), and detaching the two pieces reveals the gems inside. The garnet\u2019s type and locality are imprinted on the back of each link. A QR code on the necklace leads to a website detailing the stones and the necklace\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted the necklace to be educational because many people don\u2019t know what an incredible stone garnet is,\u201d van der Aa said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s seen every color of sapphire and tourmaline. Garnet doesn\u2019t get the attention it deserves. It can come in any color, even colorless or color change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Figure 4. \u201cGaranatus: From Rough to Cut\u201d is set with more than 77 total carats of rare garnets. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Mary van der Aa Fine Jewels and Tucson Todd\u2019s Gems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The necklace\u2019s garnet varieties span the color spectrum and localities (figure 4). Perhaps the most impressive is a 1.69 ct pink garnet from the Dora Maira locality in Italy, one of the largest of its type. Five of the garnets show color change. Other highlights include a 5.15 ct \u201cgrape jelly\u201d pyrope-almandine from Mozambique; a 3.00 ct yellow grossular of a type reportedly produced by only one deposit in Tanzania in the 1980s; a 2.47 ct red \u201canthill\u201d garnet that is exceptionally large for its Arizona locale; a 2.70 ct chromium grossular from Ethiopia; and a 2.86 ct Lindi garnet from Tanzania that reacts to UV light. The final addition was a 3.05 ct Russian demantoid with a horsetail inclusion, acquired in 2023, that van der Aa considered necessary to complete the collection.<\/p>\n

Wacks acquired the first stone, a 2.75 ct blue color-change garnet from Bekily, Madagascar, while he was a student at GIA (van der Aa is also a GIA graduate). These are even rarer than alexandrite and are easily mistaken for them. \u201cMy love for garnet started there,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter the fifth stone, I realized it was a decent little rainbow.\u201d His search focused on high clarity, color, and dispersion more than size (the sizes range from under a carat to 5.63 ct). \u201cWe used the rarest garnets I\u2019ve been able to find,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time I found a strange deposit or an exceptional example of the known localities, I added it to my collection. I don\u2019t know how many thousands of stones I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNine out of ten of them, if I wasn\u2019t a gemologist, I would never guess it was a garnet,\u201d van der Aa said. \u201cEspecially because of the sparkle. A lot of them look almost like green diamonds or yellow sapphires.\u201d Wacks added, \u201cThere are a few secrets used for cutting these garnets to produce really nice dispersive stones.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the necklace came to Wacks in 2020, when he realized the garnets would \u201creally rock\u201d in a necklace and asked van der Aa to design one. She told him it would take some time to develop something amazing. More than 450 hours went into crafting the piece. \u201cIt was quite a challenge technically,\u201d she said, noting the uniqueness of the magnetic jacket design and the QR code.<\/p>\n

\u201cGaranatus\u201d contains 2.5 lbs (more than 1 kg) of platinum. \u201cThese were the best of the best garnets he could find, so I thought platinum was what they deserved,\u201d van der Aa said. The half of the link that features the QR code is 18K gold because the highly reflective platinum didn\u2019t display the QR code well. \u201cThe 18K gives a luxe two-tone look,\u201d she said. The 18K gold portion also indicates the back of the necklace and contains a cluster of seven colorless (\u201cleuco\u201d) garnets from Sri Lanka (1.40 carats total) rather than one stone.<\/p>\n

Based on GIA researchers\u2019 analysis, these garnets demonstrate the entire range of garnet chemistry in the natural world. Their chemical compositions also shed light on their color origins. Many have color caused by essential chemical components, such as iron in the Namibian demantoid and the purple pyrope-almandine from Mozambique. Some are colored by trace impurity elements, including vanadium in the color-change garnets from East Africa and chromium in the Russian demantoid and the \u201canthill\u201d garnet.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get really sentimental holding on to something like this,\u201d Wacks said. Initially he planned to keep the necklace, but as it neared completion, van der Aa suggested he consider parting with the garnets because it had become so extraordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo go from saying, \u2018Just make a necklace,\u2019 to this\u2014it turned out beyond anything I could have ever thought of,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s likely the most impressive necklace in history displaying the beauty of the garnet group. I\u2019ve done a fair amount of research but haven\u2019t found anything that compares.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur dream is for it to go somewhere people could learn from it and see it and leave with a huge smile, knowing that garnet is such an incredible gemstone,\u201d van der Aa said. \u201cNow he\u2019s okay with parting with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGaranatus\u201d will be on display in the GIA Museum beginning this spring.<\/p>\n

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This\u00a0article<\/a><\/i>\u00a0<\/a>is reproduced with permission from GIA<\/i><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n

<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two 2023 AGTA Spectrum Awards\u2014Best Use of Platinum and Color and Best Use of Platinum and Color Men\u2019s Wear\u2014were recently awarded to \u201cGaranatus: From Rough to Cut,\u201d a 29-inch platinum necklace set with more than 77 total carats of rare garnets. \u201cGaranatus\u201d is a play on the origin of garnet\u2019s name\u2014granatus, Latin for \u201cseed-like,\u201d because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,100],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-26168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coloured-gemstones","category-in-focus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeyond Beauty: A Garnet Necklace Decoded - Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/beyond-beauty-a-garnet-necklace-decoded\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond Beauty: A Garnet Necklace Decoded - Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two 2023 AGTA Spectrum Awards\u2014Best Use of Platinum and Color and Best Use of Platinum and Color Men\u2019s Wear\u2014were recently awarded to \u201cGaranatus: From Rough to Cut,\u201d a 29-inch platinum necklace set with more than 77 total carats of rare garnets. \u201cGaranatus\u201d is a play on the origin of garnet\u2019s name\u2014granatus, Latin for \u201cseed-like,\u201d because…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/beyond-beauty-a-garnet-necklace-decoded\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-24T05:10:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Mary-van-der.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/\",\"name\":\"Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/beyond-beauty-a-garnet-necklace-decoded\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Mary-van-der.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Figure 1. 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