Demantoid
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DEMANTOID
This extremely rare garnet, which occurs in every shade of green from dark to bright, owes its color to the presence of chromium and its nameto the Flemish Demant meaning “diamond”, because of this stone’s superb adamantine luster.
Indeed, its sparkling beauty would have made it a rival to the emerald, were it more resistant to scratching and above all larger in terms of carat weight.
Instead it was almost always used to surround other stones in rings and brooches.
Fabergé used it in Russia, and King Edward VII of Great Britain also appreciated its beauty.
The demantoid was very much in vogue in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Silicate of calcium and iron. Hardness: 6.5. Russia, Africa, Korea.
