A unique garnet was recently discovered in Mozambique, Africa, that conveys a deep, rich purple with flashes of red or pink. Lead Designer of Omi Privé, Niveet Nagpal, describes the color as “royal purple,” as this hue is very rarely seen in garnet.
Mozambique, in Southeastern Africa, is the only region in the world that produces these garnets with such a vivid purple. Discovered sometime around 2016 in an alluvial deposit (in a riverbed), Mozambican purple garnet was plentiful in the early years of mining. However, since that time, it has been difficult to find any significant amount of fine purple garnet because the mining area is politically unstable. It is unsure if there is no material left at the mine or if it is currently non-operational.
No matter what the answer is, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have obtained several rare purple garnets that have met our quality standards. We take careful consideration as the gemstone must not be too dark and exhibit the perfect balance of warm tone and deep hue to be at the center of one of our unique jewelry pieces!
Because of their rarity, we have seen size limitations when it comes to sourcing fine purple garnets, especially in sizes over 5 carats. In general, most of what is available on the market is smaller than 3 carats. The earrings seen above feature purple garnets and pink tourmalines accented with diamonds. The purple garnets in the bottom half of these earrings are a mighty 13.96 carats total weight! While this particular garnet is considered a rhodolite garnet, it is much different from other rhodolites. The purple is immensely richer and can shift colors from a royal purple to shades closer to magenta in color.
The earrings seen below are purple garnet, pink spinel and diamond earrings. The purple garnets exhibit a deep purple hue with flashes of pink, a perfect combination for the pink sparkle of the spinel set in 18K rose gold. If you are interested in learning more about garnets or viewing what else we have in stock, please email jewelry@omiprive.com.
