the.com/almandine
The deep-red garnet that armed both engagement rings and machine-gun bearings.
means Almandine is a deep red-to-violet variety of garnet, an iron-aluminum silicate prized both as a gemstone and, for its hardness, as an industrial abrasive.
from The name is a corruption of 'alabandine,' from Alabanda, an ancient city in Caria (in what is now southwestern Turkey) where, according to Pliny the Elder, these garnets were cut and polished. So the stone carries the worn-down name of a long-vanished gem market, the city's hard consonants softened over centuries of trade into the smoother 'almandine.'
- name origin
- Named after Alabanda, ancient gem-cutting town in Turkey
- hardness
- Hard enough to grind metal and saw stone
- bearing duty
- Used as watch and instrument jewel bearings
- birthstone
- January's garnet is often almandine variety
- composition
- Iron-aluminum silicate, the most common garnet
almandine garnet deposits — major deposits in india, especially in kerala, used as industrial abrasive since 18th century
almandine in madagascar — significant gemstone source producing deep red translucent crystals valued for jewelry