This is a Malaya Garnet from the Umba Valley in Tanzania. Malaya means ‘outcast’ in Swahili because of their unusual colour. They are a mixture of the Pyrope and Spessartite Garnet.

The name Garnet? may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning dark red, or the Latin granatus (grain), possibly a reference to the Punica granatum (pomegranate), a plant with red seeds similar in shape, size, and color to some garnet crystals. Garnet species are found in many colors including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, pink and colorless. The rarest of these is the blue garnet