Subject: Star Garnet Question.

From: [email-masked] (Angus Johnston)
Date: 4 Mar 1995 20:17:47 GMT

My dad gave my mom an engagement ring with a six-point star garnet
thirty years ago, and now I'd like to do the same thing for my fiancee.
Any suggestions as to where I could find a nice one? I live in New York
City.

_______________________________
"I'll play it first, and tell you what it is later." --Miles Davis

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From: [email-masked] (Kathleen Otley)
Date: 5 Mar 1995 09:53:29 -0500

Angus Johnston ([email-masked]) wrote:
: My dad gave my mom an engagement ring with a six-point star garnet
: thirty years ago, and now I'd like to do the same thing for my fiancee.
: Any suggestions as to where I could find a nice one? I live in New York
: City.

Hi!  A star garnet is a garnet with rutiles (means threads) meeting in a 
star pattern.  They're fairly rare, at least compared to regular garnets.

It's been my experience that certain jewelers in every town specialize in 
"semi-precious" stones.  Others prefer gold, others diamonds, etc.  You 
may have to visit a few nearby jewelers to figure it out.  Find one who 
has a lot of bright, faceted and non-faceted stones on display (e.g., 
tigers eye, turquoise, amethyst) and ask them if they can get you a star 
garnet.  These jewelers will have experience in finding stones of the 
type that you want.

If worse comes to worst, you could probably deal with my younger sister's 
employer, Harris Jewelers in Wilmington, Delaware (302) 475-3101.  Tell 
them that I sent you.

Good luck.

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kathleen Otley      | "Blaze the trail of equipoise, and enter the heart,
[email-masked]    |  the Divine Splendor."   Swami Chidvilasananda
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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From: [email-masked] (Angus Johnston)
Date: 10 Mar 1995 07:36:55 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>
[email-masked] writes:

> George Kunz had this to say about the Garnet in his book "Natal Stones":
> January
> Natal Stone                     Garnet
> Guardian Angel                  Gabriel
> Gabriel's Talisman Gem          Onyx
> Special Apostle                 Simon Peter
> Sign                            Aquarius
> Flower                          Snowdrop
> 
>         No gems save garnets should be worn
>         By her who in this month was born
>         They will insure her constancy,
>         True friendshiip and fidelity
> 
>         The gleaming garnet holds within its sway
>         Faith, constancy and truth to one alway [sic]

That's one of the nice coincidences of this whole thing, actually. My
fiancee was born in January, so it'll be her birthstone. My mom was
born in July, so there was no such connection in the original.

Thanks to all the posters who've replied. Before I start making phone
calls, though, I'd like to prevail upon you for a few more questions.

1. Family lore has always been that six-point star garnets are a lot
less common than four point ones. The one gem dealer who I've visited
so far reinforced this -- he only had four point stones. Is my family
correct? Are six-point star garnet harder to find?

2. The dealer I stopped in to see showed me stones with a significantly
duller "star" than the ones in my mom's ring. Is there a standard for
this? Is there a way, other than trial and error and my own
seat-of-the-pants assessment, for me to ensure that I get a nice star?

3. Are there other quality issues I should be aware of?

4. How much is this going to set me back?

5. Any other tips or hints?

Thanks again for all your help.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 03:52:16 GMT

R. Lee Hadden
USGS Library

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From: Ron or Lin <[email-masked]>
Date: 9 Mar 1995 02:43:12 GMT

>Any suggestions as to where I could find a nice one? I live in New York

Living in NYC, you should have no trouble finding star garnet. My advice
would be to go to the jewelry district and search around or, better yet,
look up gem dealers in the phone book and make some calls. 

-Starwind

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 20:30:29 GMT

>George Kunz had this to say about the Garnet in his book "Natal Stones":

That's funny because I always thought the flower for January
or Aquarius was the carnation?  Being one byself, I'd like to 
think I know alittle about my sign.

Christie

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From: [email-masked] (Lawler Keith)
Date: 11 Mar 1995 15:54:00 GMT

Angus Johnston ([email-masked]) wrote:
: 1. Family lore has always been that six-point star garnets are a lot
: less common than four point ones. The one gem dealer who I've visited
: so far reinforced this -- he only had four point stones. Is my family
: correct? Are six-point star garnet harder to find?

I always understood that it is impossible to have a 6-point star garnet,
due to it's crystallography.  It grows with a cubic crystal structure, and
the 4-point star is caused by the mineral rutile getting into the
structure.  The rutile lines up in a '+' formation, which coincides with
the axes of the cube, thus forming a 4-point star. 

Rubies and Sapphires (gem varieties of the mineral corundum) form 6-point 
stars.  Rutile is also the culprit here, but corundum has a 'hexagonal', 
or six-sided, structure, and it lines up in a \|/ arrangement, which forms
                                              /|\ (crude rendition)
the six-point star.  

I would think that 6-point star garnets would be rare indeed.  This, of
course, will make them much more expensive, so I hope this girl's worth
it! :)

: 2. The dealer I stopped in to see showed me stones with a significantly
: duller "star" than the ones in my mom's ring. Is there a standard for
: this? Is there a way, other than trial and error and my own
: seat-of-the-pants assessment, for me to ensure that I get a nice star?

The more rutile in the structure the 'brighter' the star will be.  But 
this really doesn't help you much.  

I know this isn't much of a help, but maybe someone more knowledgable of 
the commercial end of gemstones can throw something in here (they 
certainly advertise here enough, you would think they would contribute 
once in a while).

--
Keith Lawler
E-mail: [email-masked]
Check out the Earth Science Club WWW page at:
http://www.ecn.bgu.edu/users/uklawler/esclub.html

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From: [email-masked] (David Rice)
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 1995 08:37:46 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Angus Johnston) wrote:

[My dad gave my mom an engagement ring with a six-point star garnet
[thirty years ago, and now I'd like to do the same thing for my fiancee.
[Any suggestions as to where I could find a nice one? I live in New York
[City.
[
[_______________________________
["I'll play it first, and tell you what it is later." --Miles Davis

Hi Angus,
Just a thought, but could the stone in the ring be a star ruby (not star garnet).
If it is a star ruby, you should have no trouble locating one by phoning around.
If I can find info on star garnets, I'll get back to you.

David

-- 
That without substance can enter where there is no room.
                                                                                 LAO TSU

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 1995 05:36:29 GMT

Remeber that George Kunz was an antiquarian and scholar. The common
birthstones, flowers, etc. that are associated with birthdates today
are most often the results of commercial endorsements by the flower and
jewelry people, who promoted higher profits rather than tradition.
        In the 1920, there was a jewelers' convention in Kasnsas City,
where "modern" stomes were promoted for sale as birthstones, and included
some american stones that were easier to stock than traditional stones.
Dr. Kunz railed against this for many years, but to little effect. Now
the commercial stones are accepted as "traditional", because they were
the ones Grandpa bought Grandma.
        Also, there are many different traditions for birthstones, flowers,
etc. Some come from Asia, Africa, the middle East and India. Even in
Europe, there are different traditions between "Western Europe" and
Russia, Balkan and Jewish lore. Kunz often picked the most common to
different cultures, or the most interesting to talk about. Without a
doubt, as the V-P for Tiffany & Co., he was interested in selling jewels.

lee hadden