Caroline: Tsavorite Garnet & Diamond Necklace.

If you’re a fan of emeralds, you’ll be wowed by this vibrant and sparkling green gem … Tsavorite Garnets really do have it all - they’re greener, brighter, clearer, stronger, sparklier and better priced than emeralds! What’s not to love!

For your total reassurance, this gemstone comes with a GIA Gemstone Grading Report, a Mining & Geology Report and is laser inscribed. This particular Tsavorite Garnet was mined on the 10th January 2018 in the Taita Hills in Tsavo, Kenya. Check out the photo of how it looked before cutting/faceting on the Mining Report below.

I offer a 10% discount if you purchase the Caroline Ring and Necklace as a set. (total £14,661.00 inc VAT). Please call or email me to discuss the offer.

Looking for Tsavorite Garnets

In the remote Taita Hills bordering the world famous Tsavo National Game reserve (one of Africa’s wildest and largest reserves) lies the site of several Tsavorite mines along a rich Tsavorite bearing vein. The Tsavorite that lies beneath the ground formed nearly 2 billion years ago in a geological process called metamorphism. Mining is done by independent owner-operators living in small camps in the wilderness.

On the site the miners dig a trench and remove the top soil. They shovel the material through a sieve and examine the gravel for tsavorite. If they find a high concentration of tsavorite they bring in a big compressor to power the jack hammers and drills. Ammonium nitrite is used as an explosive to remove and break the hard rocks, then it is easier to remove them to reach the vein. To avoid damage to the vein, the explosive carrying holes must be 4 feet or further away from the vein. 

If the miners find a vein that is producing good quality stones, the miners follow it down. The caves they dig from the bottom of the main pit down into the rock are called amigos. The amigos in these mines yield very fine quality tsavorite. Many of the amigos go down to 90 feet and not only host enormous bats, but also big scorpions. 

This beautiful Tsavorite was mined at 50 feet plus down in a “potato” gem pocket. It was then brought to Nairobi, where it was cut by master cutters into a stunning, flashing green faceted gemstone.

Caring for Tsavorite

At 7.5 on the Mohs Scale, Tsavorite is much more durable than Emerald and you will have far less reason to worry about damaging it. However, as with all gems, there are certain things that should be remembered. For example, do not clean it in a steam/sonic jewellery cleaner, as this could cause cracking. Unlike Tanzanite, The safest way remains as the time-honoured cleaning with warm soapy water and a soft toothbrush.