💍 Did you know that you can see jewelry worn by Martha Washington in our museum? Learn about Mrs. Washington's garnet jewelry and come see it for yourself: https://bit.ly/3CA41Yw | George Washington's Mount Vernon

Garnets come in a beautiful spectrum of colours, including colour changing garnets!! As you can see all these gems look quite similar in shape. This is because of their internal crystal structure. As Gemmologists our job is to identify gemstones in their rough form as well as when they are cut. There are 7 Crystal systems that most minerals will fall into. Garnet is in the Cubic System. It has a ‘round’ appearance and all the faces are very similar in shape, these are great identifying features.

Sapphire miners along the Umba River in Tanzania were the first to find malaya garnets in the 1960s. However, gem dealers in East Africa didn't want them, as they didn’t fit the mold of any of the known garnet types. These miners dubbed them malaya, the Swahili word for "outcast." Video Credits: IG 📸 naturedecolours | International Gem Society