Bohemian garnet

Garnet is one of the oldest known minerals used in ancient times for decorative and ritual purposes. It is not only one kind of mineral it is actually a whole family of minerals similar chemically and structurally. Their hardness ranges from 6,5 to 8,5 on the Mohs scale. Garnets come in many colours depending on metals contained in them. The Bohemiam garnet (pyrope) has the deepest fiery red colour of the entire garnet family which is caused by chrome in it. Other members of the garnet family are e.g. Almandine (red to violet colour), Andradite (yellow to brown colour), Spessartine (changing orange) and Grossular (yellow to green colour). Bohemian garnets resist fire. They are often found without the slightest damage. The first Bohemian garnet site was in the Central Bohemian Uplands and in the Jizera Meadow.

Mining

In the Central Bohemian Uplands, the first mining was carried out by manual picking of garnets from the soil, preferably after rain, when grains are contrasting with the background. Later on the miners came with digging of pits and shafts. They did not want to remove all the overburden which may be as much as 7 m thick. The depth of these pits and shafts was up to 40 m. They were only as wide to allow one person to squeeze through. After the mined material was transported to the surface it was necessary to wash it in special sieves. The washing was done in streams with sufficient flow or ponds. The grains obtained were mostly larger than 1,5 mm. The garnet concentrate was then transported to miners´ homes where it was handpicked by women and children who selected only grains which could be used in jewellery. This method of mining lasted almost in unchanged form for more than 200 years and ended definitively in 1955 when it was replaced by surface quarrying.

Cutting

It is likely that before the first attempts were made to cut Bohemian garnets they had been put into jewellery in raw unprocessed state. Later on the garnets were grained into milled grains. The third development stage was the slicing of the garnets so as to highlight their already very attractive red colour. Jewellery with sliced Bohemian garnets or other gems were produced using a technique called cloisonné. The most important stage was the production of the first modern facet cuts which started back in the 16th century. The oldest facet cuts are often uneven. Since 1660 brilliant cut has been used. Brilliant cut was originally used for diamonds but soon it started to be used for other gems too including Bohemian garnets.

Jewellery

The larges known Bohemian garnets are enchassed in an empire style set of jewellery once owned by baroness Theodore Ulrike von Levetzow. The set of gold jewellery with garnets was made between 1806 and 1824 in Bohemia.