The January Birth Stone – Not a Ruby!

We talked about Grossular, which is a type of Garnet, just a couple of days ago in our Gem Of the Week post. Today, we are going to take a quick look at the January Birth Stone, which is the Garnet. While garnet gemstones can range in color to just about any color on the spectrum, the January birth stone is the red garnet, which is known for calmness.

Were you born in January? Are you a calm type of person? If not, maybe you should get yourself a custom made piece of jewelry with your birthstone on it, because it is supposed to bring calmness to the wearer.

Not to be confused with the ruby, the ruby is a much rarer stone, also more expensive. The best way to tell the difference between a ruby and a garnet is to hold the stone up to light. The rainbows, or spectrums, that the stone makes will be the telltale. Because rubies absorb green and yellow and do not reflect these colors, you will not see both green and yellow in the “rainbow” that the gemstone creates. If yellow or green appears in the rainbow, the gem is most likely a red garnet.