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At first thought the name
demantoid, sounds more like an extinct animal or plant
species. But once you understand the true meaning of the
word demantoid, you will realize the relevance of the name.
The Dutch word 'demant' is what inspired gem experts
to name this green garnet, demantoid. The word demant means
'diamond like' in Dutch. There is one amazing property of
Demantoid garnet that, makes it do a terrific diamond act, and
do it better than a natural diamond would!
Stare at a diamond and you will see
a blast of rainbow colors scatter before your eyes. The shape,
cut and facets of the diamond will surely influence just how
brilliant the fiery display would be. There is a
scientifically defined explanation for this amazing property
exhibited by diamonds, it is referred to as dispersion.
Basically, the higher the dispersion reading, the more
spectacular the colorful blast. Few gems can
come even close to the dispersion rating of a diamond.
Demantoid is an exception, this gemstone proudly
displays a dispersion reading that exceeds that of a diamond.
This is truly one of the winning properties of demantoid,
something that makes it a sought after gem - especially among
knowledgeable gem and jewelry lovers.
 |
Two gorgeous demantoid garnets, notice
the bursting fire is more noticeable in the demantoid
with a lighter color (lower color saturation). Fire and
color are more important than clarity, when it comes to
demantoid gems. |
If you had to broadly categorize
the price of demantoid garnet gems, they would surely fall in
the 'expensive' gemstone category. Demantoid has all the
makings of an expensive gem. It is rare, mostly found in small
sizes, gorgeous with a diamond like fire, it is often found in
green color and it is untreated. The color green is easily
related to the beauty and freshness of nature. Vast expanse of
grass, lush green trees swaying in the breeze and a host of
other living creatures with shades of green. This
has made the human mind very friendly towards green
objects, green themes and basically everything green. Green
gemstones have a robust demand and this works well for
demantoid garnet too.
The first significant encounter
with demantoid, was when the Russian demantoid
gems entered the market. With the sourcing limited to
just Russia, prices sky rocketed and sellers demanded
whatever they wanted. While demantoid is today mined in
Madagascar and a few other places, a significant feature
of Russian demantoid is not found in the gem that
comes from other sources. Russian demantoid can often
contain bunches of fine asbestos 'hairs'. These are naturally
present in the gem, and can be a source of added value to the
gem. In some rare cases, these asbestos fibres seem to be
oriented in a well formed bunch that resembles the tail of a
horse. This is what horse tail inclusions in demantoid garnets
refers too. When such a demantoid is cut, an expert cutter
could orient the rough piece in such a way that, the horse
tail inclusions seem to be forcing themselves up through the
bottom of the stone. You can see that a combination of the
natural presence of the horse tail inclusions and the skills
of the gem cutter, are required to highlight the natural
beauty of these inclusions. What you will need to keep in mind
that so far, such horse tail inclusions have been observed
only in demantoid from Russia. With Russian demantoid supplies
now becoming sporadic and rather small, it is becoming
increasingly rare to find a demantoid with well formed horse
tail inclusions.
The most likely role of a demantoid
gem would be as an accent stone. This is for two clear
reasons, the gem is quite expensive and larger sizes are hard
to find. Most demantoid garnets are cut in a round or oval
shape - you might come across a pear shaped or even
trillion shaped demantoid garnet but this would be quite rare.
We did keep saying that demantoid is a green variety of
garnet, but in reality color variations do exist. The green
color of demantoid quite often shows a light flush of yellow.
You might have come across demantoid garnets where, the
yellowish green color slants to yellowish brown rather than
green. This is our recommendation for color selection of a
demantoid. Choose a lighter color shade rather than a darker
color, too much color saturation can hide the fire of the gem.
Many gem lovers who have talked to us prefer, a base green
color with a slight yellowish tint.
As is the case with every gem,
knowledge of related properties and features will allow you to
take better care of the gem. This in turn would mean more and
longer satisfaction - so here is the relevant information for
demantoid. The gem has a hardness of 6.5-7, this does not make
it fragile but, it is a good idea to avoid hitting the gem
against hard objects. Since most demantoid garnets
availabe in the gem markets are in smaller sizes, the looking
after process is not too complicated. A larger gem has more
surface area and is therefore, more likely to hit against or
be hit by hard surfaces. An interesting fact is that, we have
really not come across cases where a gem or jewelry buyer has
damaged a demantoid. The high price almost forces buyers to be
more careful!
The above report gives an
interesting insight into a gem that is gorgeous and valuable
but, not very common. The market for exotic gems is often
dominated by a few knowledgeable gem collectors or buyers.
Through our reporting, we wish to widen the reach of useful
knowledge related to gemstones and jewelry. Our team would be
glad to answer any questions that you might have related to
gems and jewelry. Since you do not need to make any purchase
to get the benefit of our expertise, email us at sales@kaisilver.com and
we will be glad to help.
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