Garnet

A family of silicate minerals that grow as round, many-faced crystals. Deep red almandine studding schist is the classic find.

Garnet specimen — Photo: Moha112100, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify garnet

Ball-shaped crystals with 12 or 24 faces.
Deep wine-red to brown.
Scratches glass.
Often embedded in mica schist.

Often confused with

Corundum
Ruby is harder (9) and grows in six-sided barrels, not balls.
Compare side by side
Staurolite
Staurolite is brown and grows in elongated prisms, often crossed.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Gore Mountain, New York
Emerald Creek, Idaho
Wrangell, Alaska
India

Uses

Sandpaper, waterjet cutting abrasive, and jewelry.

Rock tumbling

Great for tumbling.

Did you know?

The name comes from Latin granatum, 'pomegranate' — the crystals look like its seeds.

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