Garnet Handstones

Garnet Handstones from Madagascar

Garnet

Garnet is a group of related minerals belonging to the nesosilicates. The colour varies greatly depending on the specific type, but red is the most familiar. Other colours include green, orange, purple, black and even colourless. Garnet occurs in metamorphic and igneous rocks and is found worldwide.

Major deposits include India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Russia and the United States. The chemical composition varies by type of garnet, but they all share a similar crystal structure, X3Z2(SiO4)3. The hardness is between 6.5 and 7.5 on the Mohs scale.

Popular varieties include almandine (dark red), pyrope (deep red), grossulari (green), tsavorite (bright green) and spessartine (orange).

Sources:
Mindat.org, Gemdat.org, Wikipedia - Garnet

Hand stones

Hand stones are our largest, tumbled and smoothly polished (precious) stones that often sit very well in the hand, which immediately explains the name. Drummed, this size is also called a palm stone or jumbo stone. Often these stones are extra polished or ground after tumbling for a beautiful end result. Despite this consistency, it remains a natural product, so variations in shape, colour and pattern can always occur. This can vary from one type of stone to another.

Generally, handstones have a size between 4 × 3 × 2 cm and 6 × 5 × 3 cm. Almost all our handstones come from Madagascar, where they are carefully selected and processed. The product photos give a good impression of what to expect. Hand stones are sold per 100 gr (1x), with a minimum order of 500 gr (5x).