Tsavorite garnet

Tsavorite (or Tsavolite) is a member of the grossularite type of garnet.
The name of this magnificent vivid green stone comes from the Tsavo National Park in Kenya where it was first found, in the beginning of the seventies.

His coloring agents are the same as for the emerald: vanadium and chromium.

Tsavorite garnet is a rare stone. Some studies have found that it around 200 hundred times more rare than emerald.

Garnet was known thousands of years before our era, and it is mentioned in early biblical writings.

The name garnet comes from the Latin «granatus» meaning «seed like», and garnet symbolized faith, constancy and truth.
Garnet was supposed to have strong curative powers. In powder, it was used as poultice to relieve fever.
As an amulet, it was favored by travelers, for it was said to protect and preserve both health and honor, cure the wearer of all diseases and guard from all perils during the course of a journey.
Garnets were also used in ancient Asia and the American Southwest as bullets because they were said to increase the ferocity of the wound provoked.

Garnet is the birthstone for January.