Malaya Garnet
Malaya Garnet – Tanzania
This very rare fancy garnet comes in a variety of brilliant colors, bright golden and yellow, orange, pink, peach, rose, cinnamon, and even color change stones. Gemologically Malaya Garnet appears to be a combination of spessartite garnet and rhodolite garnet and was mistaken for spessartite garnet when it was first discovered in the 1960’s by a Massai tribesman in Tanzania. While there is a tendency, in today’s market, to try and call any red orange garnet “Malaya Garnet”, true Malaya Garnets have a very specific refractive index and very unique medium peachy orange and bright fancy colors and tones. This material is very rare and there has been very little production in recent years with a steady rise in the price of rough and fine material near impossible to find. Garnet is the traditional birthstone for people born in the month of January.