Rhodolite Garnet is one of those gemstones that can cause some confusion even at the source. If you are a miner looking to sell your garnet, calling it Rhodolite instantly boosts its value but I find it hard to accept sellers trying to offload their mostly red garnet as being Rhodolite. At the risk of offending gemmologists and geologists I feel that if it doesn’t have any pink or magenta overtones it aint Rhodolite. In the gem lab they will tell you that there is some overlap in the chemistry of the garnets which is making it extremely difficult for miners and dealers to actually say with any certainty to which variety their goods belong. It makes life very difficult if you need to get a full spectral and chemical analysis to say what you have. At the risk of over simplification Rhodolite is a better end garnet with a definitive pink overtone. |