Derived from the Latin word grossularia. Grossular: photo, description, magical properties of the stone, which zodiac sign is suitable. Stone care

The grossular stone got its name for a reason: it really looks like a gooseberry. He is loved by romantic natures and inveterate pragmatists. And there is a reason for it.

What is a gem?

Grossular is a calcium variety of garnet. It comes in varying degrees of transparency, but after treatment it always shines.

Colors – green, yellowish-brown, pinkish-red.

Some specimens are endowed with the property of yellow-brown fluorescence.

Story

Yakutia is considered the birthplace of the grossular mineral. Here, on the banks of the Vilyui River, scientist Eric Laxman found the first stone. This was in 1780.

For some time, the find appeared in the works of the Russian scientist Peter Pallas.

Almost 30 years later, the mineral, whose color resembles a gooseberry, acquired a name. Since 1808, at the suggestion of Alex Werner, it has been called grossular and is considered a separate gemstone.

Grossula means "gooseberry" in Latin.

Physico-chemical characteristics

According to the chemical classification, grossular is a calcium and aluminum silicate with a long formula.

Hydrothermal rock is formed when magmas interact with limestones and dolomites. high temperatures.

Place of Birth

Grossulars are found all over the planet, from Finland and Canada to Mexico and Brazil. Jewelry quality stones are mined in the USA, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Russian deposits are the Murmansk region, Karelia, Yakutia, Siberian and North Caucasus regions.

High-quality yellow-orange samples are supplied by the Urals, green ones are found in Primorye and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Varieties

Impurities in the mineral create colored varieties:

• . A yellow-red stone that changes hue at different viewing angles.
• Hydrogrossular. Stones with the presence of water in the structure (up to 5%).
• Leucogranate. Transparent teardrop-shaped specimens or opaque milky white.
• Rosolite. Deep pink grossulars come from Mexico.
• Succinite. Stones of color.
• (tsavorit). Light green stones with a yellowish tint.

The brilliant soft green gems are called Pakistani emeralds after their place of extraction.

Where is it used?

The only area of ​​application for semi-precious stone is jewelry. Craftsmen make all types of jewelry, using silver and gold as frames.

They can be bought at a price of several thousand rubles (for example, a bracelet costs 9-10, a pendant costs 1.5-3.5 thousand rubles).

It is a desirable exhibit in mineralogical collections.

How to care

The stone is hard, but fragile, so you need to take care of your jewelry carefully.

They are protected from the sun, sudden temperature fluctuations, falls, and any mechanical impact.

Clean with running water and neutral detergent.

How to spot a fake

Grossular is counterfeited in the same way as garnets of other colors.

The imitation is often specially created garnet glass. It is difficult to distinguish a fake, but it is possible:

1. Natural garnet is not large (the usual grain size is up to 2 cm).
2. The color structure is zonal, with inclusions.
3. The shine is not “loud”, it is closer to matte.
4. It scratches glass easily.
5. Easily magnetized.

More often, fakes can be bought in products with several stones (bracelet, beads, necklace).

Magic properties

The main mission of the stone is to bring peace, harmony, and kindness to people and space.

Other magical properties of grossular have been discovered:

1. It helps you understand your purpose.
2. Eliminates confusion in thoughts.
3. Puts a shield against damage, the evil eye, gossip, slander.

Spouses who want to strengthen their marriage bonds are recommended to buy identical products with grossular. For example, rings, pendants, keychains.

1. In the business sphere, the magic of stone will help attract the right people, establish connections, will make you luckier.
2. This is the mascot of knowledge workers.

The owner of the stone will strive for new heights and feel a surge of strength. At the same time remaining calm, even phlegmatic.

The energy of grossular is incompatible with dark practices and causing harm to anyone.

Therapeutic effect

Like any green stone, grossular is suitable for normalizing the psyche:

• With it it is easier to get out of depression, to survive stress, mental shock.
• It makes for a sound, restful sleep.
• Neutralizes outbursts of rage and aggression.

Contemplation of green grossular will strengthen vision, immunity, and improve metabolic processes in the body.

The type of decoration matters:

• Skin problems will be solved by earrings with yellow, amber, and brown inserts.
• They will also ease migraine attacks in weather-dependent people.
• The heart will be treated with green beads, a pendant, a pendant, or a tie clip in the area of ​​this organ.

The healing effect of the products is enhanced by the silver frame.

Grossular and Zodiac

Grossular is a January stone. Also suitable for ambitious people. They will be luckier with him, more confident when making decisions, and will find their soul mate.

The formation of grossulars occurs when alkaline magma interacts with dolomite and limestone rock at high temperatures. Stone deposits are found in limestones and basalts; they are found on all continents. Thus, on the territory of Russia, beautiful yellow-orange specimens were found in the south and central regions of the Urals, green grossulars were found in the Primorsky and Krasnoyarsk territories. Large deposits are known in the Murmansk region, Karelia, Sakha-Yakutia, the North Caucasus and middle lane Siberia. High-quality grossulars are also mined in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Brazil, Mexico, USA, Finland and Canada.

The grossular was first described at the end of the 18th century, when the scientist E. Laxman discovered a specimen of it in Yakutia. A couple of years later, the find was once again identified in the work of P.S. Pallas under the name of pomegranate. And only almost twenty years later A.G. Werner classified this mineral as a separate species. At first, he called the stone found in Ceylon kanelstein, that is, cinnamon stone. But later he renamed it grossular, which is translated from Latin as “gooseberry”, and indicates a beautiful and unusual shade of the gem.

Grossular crystals, like other garnets, form twelve rhombic and twenty-four trapezoidal faces or exist in the form of combinations thereof. This habit is characteristic of garnets. According to their chemical composition, grossulars belong to the calcium-aluminum garnets. Natural samples are isometric crystals, grains and solid masses.

The color range of grossular is varied and includes shades of green, yellow, brown and red. Colorless specimens are quite rare. They are transparent to the point of being translucent, fragile, have a glassy, ​​greasy or diamond luster, with a cubic system, without cleavage, conchoidal or splintered at the fracture.

The hardness of the crystals on the Mohs scale is 7.0-7.5. Specific gravity 3.57-3.73 g/cm3. Refractive index 1.730-1.760. There is no birefringence. The variance is 0.027. Pleochroism is not typical. Luminescence is weak.

Varieties of grossular are distinguished by color characteristics, which in turn are determined by the presence of certain impurities in the composition of the mineral:

• leucogranates - crystals that are as transparent as a drop of water, or it is an opaque white stone;
• hydrogrossulars - contain about 5% water in the stone composition;
• tsavorites - a subspecies of light green delicate color that has a yellow tint;
• rosolites - distinguished by a rich pink hue, found in Mexico;
• succinites – amber grossulars;
• Pakistani emeralds are high-quality crystals of soft green color with a bright shine;
• rumyantsevites - ornamental stones of pink-orange color;
• hessonites are original grossulars that, at different angles of view and at different distances, change their color from yellow to red.

Grossular has a calming, relaxing effect on humans and at the same time it has a tonic effect. In general, the effect of the stone is comparable to a whole range of spa treatments. People who choose amulets and talismans from grossular always feel cheerful and internally full of vitality, while outwardly they will remain balanced and calm, and will always maintain a good-natured mood.

Grossular also develops a penchant for daydreaming, helps to plan the future in a positive way, with its help all hitherto hidden things are easily revealed. Creative skills person.

The good thing about this gem is that it does not conflict with other stones and combines with them without problems. Being so accommodating and supportive, he conveys the same qualities to his owner. Thanks to this property, the owner of the gem can easily find mutual understanding with the most different people.

In lithotherapy, grossular is interesting because its effect on the human body directly depends on the type of decoration it is used in.

For example, necklaces and beads made from the mineral help in the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system. Simply squeezing a processed stone tightly in your hand can relieve toothache. Grossular set in silver has a positive effect on nervous system, relieves fears and anxieties and eliminates sleep disorders.

Grossular is used in jewelry, in the manufacture of interior decorations, talismans and amulets, as well as in lithotherapy.

The saturation of the basic green color of grossular is associated with the concentration of iron in it. Depending on the presence of other impurities and inclusions, white, pink, brownish, red, olive, and yellow specimens appear.

Jewelry with grossulars protects against prolonged exposure to sunlight and sudden temperature changes. Clean them with running water or warm soapy water.

Grossulars are ideal for Aquarius. They bring special luck to those representatives of this sign who were born in January. Gems also have a positive effect on Scorpios, helping them get rid of melancholy and melancholic moods.

Grossulars are traditionally set in gold settings and used to create beautiful necklaces, rings and other jewelry. They make excellent sets of bracelets, earrings, buckles and rings. Such products are classified as expensive and are valued at several hundred dollars per copy.

• Talismans with grossulars attract the sympathy of people around them to their owners, help cope with conflict situations, and give peace in family life and mutual understanding between spouses.
• The name of the stone “grossular” is translated from Latin as “gooseberry”. In addition, the stone and its subspecies in mineralogy are found under the names of hessonites, cinnamon stones, hyacinths, jacinths, leucogranates, rosolites, succinites, colophonites, viluites, garnet jade, South African jade, Pakistani emerald.

Grossular - magic stone

In the recent past, it was called the Pakistani emerald. The most valuable crystals of this light green mineral are mined in Pakistan. In addition to Pakistan, this variety of garnet is mined in Russia (Yakutia), Austria, and Switzerland.

Varieties

Even a simple glance at the photo of these stones is enough to appreciate their rather modest size. However, many varieties of pomegranate do not differ large sizes. If it is of jewelry quality, then it is called noble grossular. Opaque options with green tint called hydrogrossulars. This variety is a dense and opaque green mineral.

It has a cryptocrystalline and characteristic heterogeneous structure. The predominant structure for it is spotted with veins. In addition, there are varieties such as leucogranate and hessonite. Crystals of the grossular mineral are most easily identified by their rhombododecahedron or tetragon-trioctahedron shape. Physical properties include hardness of 7 units on the Mohs scale, lack of cleavage, fragility and high specific gravity.

Hessonite (a type of grossular) used to have a different name - hyacinth. It has a fairly recognizable granular structure. This structure is due to numerous inclusions of small and transparent crystals of apatite and zircon. It is clearly visible even without a microscope. This type of grossular mineral is easy to recognize from the photo.

Leucogranate is a colorless variety of grossular stone. Stone deposits are located in Mexico and Canada. Pink grossular is of great jewelry value, which can easily be confused with rhodolite or a pink variety of pyrope. In jewelry, there is a certain division of the grossular mineral according to color:

• Rosolite – pink and rose-red
• Hessonite – brown, yellow, orange
• Rumyantsevit – brownish-red
• Succinite – amber yellow
• Tsavorite is green. This type of stone contains about 4.5% vanadium oxide.
• Leucogranate – colorless

This distribution by color in no way distinguishes it into separate varieties, and the physical properties remain unchanged.

Jewelry value

The grossular mineral is not particularly popular among jewelers. The reason is a large number of inclusions that make it difficult to process.

Among the most expensive minerals of this type of garnet is tsavorite. Rich green crystals and crystals with a bluish-green tint are mined in Tanzania and Kenya. It was first found in 1967 in the same Tanzania. On the world gemstone market, the cost of tsavorite varies from $150 to $500 per carat. They can easily be confused with emerald and diopside.

Rosolite is also considered a rare stone. It cannot be found in ordinary jewelry store. It can only be seen at major exhibitions and in private collections.

The least known variety of garnet in jewelry is hessonite. Characterized by a unique type of amorphous inclusions. These inclusions are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope. Such microinclusions give it a unique, incomparable appearance. However, these same inclusions significantly reduce the hardness of this variety of garnet. This series of properties makes it difficult to machine.

Although the grossular mineral is quite widespread in nature, its crystals of jewelry value are quite rare. Grossular gained particular popularity in the era of romanticism. At that time, it had just begun to be used as jewelry.

Traditionally, such jewelry was made in a gold frame. It has great hardness, its color does not change when heated and is resistant to ultraviolet rays. Therefore, jewelry with it is quite durable. The high refractive index of light gives the mineral excellent brilliance and dispersion. These properties are quite highly prized in the world of jewelry collecting.

Magic of stone

Like all varieties of garnet, the grossular mineral tends to produce a calming effect on its owner. It is believed that it helps its owner get rid of insomnia and various kinds of fears. This mineral is one of the few that can be combined with others precious stones in one decoration.

This lack of conflict can be transmitted to its owner, who becomes sensitive to others. Astrologers do not identify zodiac signs for which it is contraindicated. Especially suitable for people born under the sign of Scorpio.

Care

Like other precious and semiprecious stones, grossular is unstable to sudden temperature changes. The use of ultrasound and household chemicals for cleaning is also not recommended. To clean it, a simple soap solution and soft flannel is enough.

The color range of grossular is very wide. It is a calcium variety. Olive, green, yellow-brown, orange and rose-red minerals are found. They have a characteristic glass glitter. This is a slightly translucent or opaque gem. Some specimens have a fluorescent effect with a yellow-brown tint.

Grossular stone is composed of calcium oxide, aluminum dioxide and silicon dioxide. It also contains small amounts of substances such as titanium, chromium, manganese and iron. Typically the size of the mineral is from 3 to 4 cm. It is quite hard, but at the same time fragile. In addition, he is afraid of the effects of sodium and hydrochloric acid.

History of grossular stone

In 1790, the scientist E. Laxman discovered this gem on the banks of the Vilyui River, which flows in Sakha-Yakutia. to his appearance it looks like a gooseberry. In this regard, in 1808, A. Werner gave the mineral its official name - grossular, which is translated from Latin as “gooseberry”.

Colors and varieties of grossular stone

Impurities of various chemical elements determine the shades of the mineral. The following types of grossular are distinguished:

• Leucogranate. This is a transparent gem that looks like a drop of water. There are also opaque white specimens.
• Hydrogrossular. It contains about 5% water.
• . It is a light green stone with a hint of yellow.
• Rosolite. Deep mineral pink tone. Its deposits are concentrated in Mexico.
• Succinite. This is an amber colored stone.
• Pakistani. It is a gem of a soft green tone. It is characterized by a pronounced shine.
• Rumyantsevit. Ornamental pink-orange stone.
• . This is a unique and inexpensive mineral. Its typical feature is a yellow-red color change depending on distance and viewing angle.

Grossular stone deposits

The emergence of grossular occurs as a result of the high-temperature interaction of alkaline magmas and dolomite and limestone rocks. Usually its deposits are located in basalts or calcareous skarns.

Grossular mining occurs in many countries. Deposits of yellow-orange stones are concentrated in the Southern and Central Urals in Russia. Green minerals are mined in the Primorsky and Krasnoyarsk Territories. Deposits are also located in the Murmansk region, Karelia, Sakha-Yakutia, the North Caucasus and Siberia.

Grossular deposits are being developed in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Canada and Finland.

The healing properties of grossular stone

One of the most useful qualities of grossular is its ability to restore a person’s mental and emotional state after nervous overstrain and complete depression. When framed in silver, grossular has a calming effect, neutralizes aggression and attacks of rage, and also stabilizes sleep.

But gooseberries are not always green? Not always – just like grossular. Many gemologists highlight grayish-green stones as the most beautiful. The consumer strives for warm tones: transparent yellowish-orange, pink, reddish-brown stones harmonize surprisingly well with human skin.

Jewelers hone their taste in assembling products with real collections of multi-colored grossulars, interspersed with colorless stones. Uncolored grossulars (another name for leucogranates) go well with both the blur of warm tones and the grayish green of pouring gooseberries.

Admirers of green gems distinguish between transparent and opaque grossular. Stones that are translucent (sometimes only along the edge) with all shades of sea green are called hydrogrossulars - while transparent crystals are called noble grossulars. Interestingly, hydrogrossular crystals actually contain water (in bound form).

The variety of expressive properties of the stone is determined by chemical composition mineral.

Properties of grossular

For the green color of the stone to appear, the presence of chromium ions in the crystal mass is required. Manganese and titanium, often found in grossulars, are responsible for the appearance of pink and golden shades in the color of the stone.

Grossular crystals rarely grow large. A centimeter pebble is common. Three centimeters is already rare. Even larger grossulars are generally rare, but intergrowths and multiple growths of crystals are common. Most of them are not of jewelry quality.

Various grossulars from distant corners of the Earth

Luxurious grossulars of impeccable green color, named after the place of extraction in South Africa, became the subject of concern for a large jewelry company and the target of local bandits.

The best among grossulars are garnets mined in Mali. The meager lands of West Africa contain grossulars of unsurpassed aesthetic properties. Colored ranging from greenish-yellow to brownish-green, mali garnets have a special golden luster.

Delicate pink shades are characteristic of grossulars coming from Namibia. Mali garnets from Madagascar are distinctly green, making them similar to gold and silver.

Grossular heals the soul and body

In ancient times, green grossulars were used as a means of obstetrics. For men employed in law enforcement agencies, grossular is a concentrator of strength and energy. The darker the human skin, the higher the effectiveness of grossular...