Exclusively used for jewelry, tsavorite is one of the rarest gemstones on the planet, with prices soaring above 1 gram.
Discover here
The history of tsavorite
Tsavorite was discovered only very recently, in the 1960s!
It was in 1967 that a Scottish geologist named Campbell R. Bridges discovered this green stone in Tanzania.
It was not until 7 years later that this "grossular garnet" was renamed tsavorite.
Despite the commercial efforts of the time, tsavorite remained for a long time a little known stone for the general public. Today it is highly valued for its great transparency and its shades of meadow green.
The origins of tsavorite
Although small quantities of tsavorite are found in Madagascar and Quebec, almost all of the world's tsavorite comes from Kenya and Tanzania.
Did you know that?
Opened in 1948, the Tsavo Nature Reserve is located in southern Kenya on the border with Tanzania, and is the place that gave tsavorite its name!
The main characteristics of tsavorite
Tsavorite is a stone from the garnet family. For the more technical among you, it comes more specifically from the family of calcic aluminous garnets.
This stone is rated between 6.5 and 7.5/10 on the Mohs scale of stone hardness, so it is a robust stone that is perfectly suited to jewelry.
What are its main characteristics?
—— First, its colour
Tsavorite has a green colour with an intensity that can range from pale to very intense.
At Gemmyo, all our tsavorites are selected with an intensity close to the one presented on our site, i.e. an intense green, meadow green. While some tsavorites have a more bottle green colour, we at Gemmyo prefer a green that we consider to be brighter and softer.
As with emerald, this colour is caused by the presence of chemical elements in the pure crystal, in this case vanadium or chromium.
—— A high refractive index
One of the main characteristics of the garnet family - of which tsavorite is a member - is that it has a high refractive index.
In practical terms, this means that light travels easily through the stone and therefore it is very shiny. However the undisputed champion of this characteristic is the famous diamond!
However, one can notice that tsavorite has the characteristic to shine more than most other coloured stones... an additional reason to adopt it!
—— Its rarity
Like tanzanite, tsavorite is found in very few mines. From a geological point of view, this stone is considered to be very rare and even up to 200 times more rare than emerald! This is one of the reasons for its relatively high price, even though the world demand for tsavorite is rather low (due to its very confidential nature). Some would even say that tsavorite is an undervalued stone compared to its beauty and rarity... and therefore deserves its qualification of "connoisseur stone"
Please note: Tsavorite is also one of the few coloured stones that is not heated. Incredible, isn't it? It is simply cut and polished from a raw crystal!
FAQs
—— "Where do your tsavorites come from?"
At Gemmyo, all our tsavorites come from Kenya.
—— "What is the quality of your tsavorites?"
Our tsavorites are AAA quality, the highest quality available for a colored stone!
Find out more about AAA quality.
—— "Which stone should I choose between a tsavorite and an emerald?"
Although emerald and tsavorite are both green stones, they should not be confused. Choosing between the two is above all a matter of taste!
In addition to the choice of colour, tsavorite is a stone with no or very few inclusions, unlike emerald.
Nevertheless, the emerald remains a precious stone and one of the most famous stones in the world of jewelry, because of its unique colour.
Find out more about emerald in our dedicated guide.
—— "Which metal to match with tsavorite?"
Tsavorite has the advantage of being a powerful light green colour that can easily be combined with different colours of metals.
Its colour will be perfectly enhanced by white gold or platinum. In rose gold, tsavorite reveals its intensity even more!
Our advice: Yellow gold is a metal that can be less harmonious with tsavorite, so choose a white or pink metal!
—— "What is the occasion for giving a tsavorite?"
Just like garnet, tsavorite is attributed to the month of January and the sign of Aquarius !
It is a stone which is offered to celebrate a 2nd wedding anniversary, to mark this occasion with a green stone!
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