Page "Garnet" Paragraph 15

A variety of pyrope from Macon County, North Carolina is a violet-red shade and has been called rhodolite, Greek for " rose ".

In chemical composition it may be considered as essentially an isomorphous mixture of pyrope and almandine, in the proportion of two parts pyrope to one part almandine.

Pyrope has tradenames some of which are misnomers ; Cape ruby, Arizona ruby, California ruby, Rocky Mountain ruby, and Bohemian garnet from the Czech Republic.

Another intriguing find is the blue color-changing garnets from Madagascar, a pyrope-spessartine mix.

The color of these blue garnets is not like sapphire blue in subdued daylight but more reminiscent of the grayish blues and greenish blues sometimes seen in spinel.

However, in white LED light, the color is equal to the best cornflower blue sapphire, or D block tanzanite ; this is due to the blue garnet's ability to absorb the yellow component of the emitted light.