Pyrope

Deep blood-red in color, pyrope is the member of the garnet group whose hue is produced by iron and chromium. It frequently occurs as perfectly rounded, water-worn crystals known as anthill garnets, so called because ants excavate them to the surface in Arizona. Pyrope forms in peridotites, kimberlites, and high-pressure metamorphic rocks, and is recovered from Bohemia in the Czech Republic, South Africa, Australia, and the American Southwest. Its rich red rivals that of ruby, and the stone has been set in jewelry since the Middle Ages, most famously in the Bohemian garnet pieces of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5 and good durability, pyrope is well suited to everyday wear.