Malaya garnet

Malaya garnet is dark brownish red in color. Malaya, in Swahili means "worthless". These garnets, found in Eastern and Central Africa, were once discarded in favor of the richer colored pyrope and rhodolite garnets.

The Malaya Garnet, Swahili word meaning prostitute, is a mixture of spessartine and pyrope. Discovered in 1979 this incredibly beautiful stone has hues of orange to reddish orange with pinkish overtones and became very popular for jewelry.

Malaya garnet, another popular mixed variety, ranges from orange to gold and is mined in Tanzania and Kenya. Gem diggers working the stream gravels nearly a decade ago found lovely orange and beige colored garnets in much larger pieces.

Malaya Garnet
Malaya Garnet was ignored by miners looking for rhodolite for many years. Its name, malaya, means "outcast" in Swahili. Finally in the late l970's malaya garnets were appreciated for their beauty.

This Malaya garnet rough-and-cut pair, shot by photographer Jeff Scovil, is one of several such photos of Bill’s collection on the Ste.-Marie website.

You may be surprised to learn that garnets are found in every color except blue, including brilliant green tsavorite garnet, raspberry pink rhodolite garnet, and orange malaya garnet. Bright red "anthill" garnets are found in Arizona.

Several gem species and varieties discussed in Part II of this book are fairly recent discoveries: tsavorite garnet, tanzanite, and malaya garnet were completely unknown just fifty years ago.

Garnets are found in every color except blue, including brilliant green tsavorite garnet, raspberry pink rhodolite garnet, and orange malaya garnet.

See also: Garnet, Color, Stone, Rhodolite garnet, Tsavorite