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almandine garnet - common but not tawdry
According to Strabo, an ancient Greek historian and geographer (66 BC-24 AD), the people of Alabanda were very rich, lived in luxury and all the girls in the city played the harp.
A contemporary of Pliny, Strabo is mostly famous for his Geographia, a 17-book work containing history and descriptions of people and places all over the world as known to him.
 alabandicus
The relatively abundant almandine may be one of the stones noted in the Old Testment. The prophet Ezekiel who wrote his book approximately 593 BC, described the robe of Hiram of Tyre (ca. 1000 BC), as having "...the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the carbuncle and gold."
Some Biblical scholars think the "carbuncles" were actually almandine garnets. (The term "carbuncle" is derived from the latin carbunculus meaning "little coal.")
Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), Roman historian and naturalist, mentions that the mineral alabandicus was mined in Asia Minor around the cities of Alabanda (from which the word 'almandine' is derived) and Orthosia in Caria -- both of which are in present day Turkey.
Due in part to Russia's own deposits of almandine in the Urals, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg hosts an impressive array of almandine encrusted jewelry and decorative items, ranging from 500 BC through the reign of the Romanovs.
The Sarmatians, an ancient nomadic people from the area between the northern Black Sea and Caspian Sea, prospered from the sixth century BC through the fourth century AD Early Sarmatian culture most probably developed as a result of the influx of populations from the forest-steppe trans-Urals, northwestern Kazakhstan, and the Aral Sea region.
The term "Sarmatian" or "Sirmatian" was first mentioned by Greek authors such as Eudox, Pseudo-Skilak, Heraklidus of Pont, and Theophrastus in the 4th-2nd century BC.
One of the few ancient civilizations known to employ women warriors. Herodotus reported that the Sarmatians were said to be the "offspring of Scythians who had mated with Amazons."
sarmatian splendor

torque terminal, late 4th-5th century; gold, garnet, mother-of-pearl
photo: hermitage museum

An outstanding collection of ancient Sarmatian gold ornaments, many studded with almandine garnets, can be seen at the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg. Many of these artifacts come from a burial mound at Khoklach, discovered by chance in 1864 near Novocherkassk on the famed Russian steppes.
Most of the pieces -- which include torques, diadems, fibulas (brooches, clasps, and buckles), vessels and pendants -- incorporate colored inlays of semiprecious stones, mainly in shades of red (dark cherry reds to purplish reds), such as almandine, garnet (pyrope), almandine-pyrope, sard, and less frequently amber and glass, against a gold ground.

1st century ad; gold, garnet, glass, turquoise, almandine, pearls
photo: hermitage museum

Sophisticated goldsmiths, the nomadic Sarmatians, along with the Scythians (also known for their stunning gold work) are thought to have initially gained their skills from the Orient. Eventually, they passed on their knowledge to Germanic tribes (Huns) on the shores of the Black Sea.
In neighboring Hungary, unearthed Avar burial grounds have yielded items strikingly similar to the Sarmatian items found in Russia. One piece, a necklace discovered in the grave of an Avar princess, has five oval almandine pendants in a gold setting.
In 1818, an Italian translation of Fine Thoughts on Precious Stones , appeared in Europe. Originally written in 1242, by Ahmad Ibn Yusuf Tifashi, an Arabic judge and scholar, the treatise cited prices in the gem markets of the Middle East in the twelfth century. The most expensive stone, ruby, was followed by emerald, diamond, topaz, spinel, sapphire, zircon, yellow corundum, beryl, and turquoise -- with almandine garmet at the tail-end.
Disastrous to the Byzantine Empire, Michael IV Dukas' claim to fame is that it was he who irretrievably lost what was left of the original Roman Empire in Italy to the Normans in 1071. He also lost a large strip of Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks (who later established the Ottoman Empire). Resigning the throne with hardly a struggle in 1078, he retired to a monastery. His successor claimed legitimacy by marrying Michael's wife.
When the lower crown was created in the early Middle Ages, each gem color had its own meaning. The blue sapphire symbolized the sea; the red almandine, fire; the green glass, earth. All together, they represented the Universe.
 crown of st. stephen: corona latina

saint stephen

One of the most famous historical artifacts containing almandine garnets is the Hungarian Holy Crown. Consisting of two separate parts -- the lower circular crown called the Greek crown (corona graeca) and the upper arch-type crown called the latin crown (corona latina) -- it contains almandine garnets in both pieces.
The upper crown, decorated with jewels and enameled figures of Christ and the Apostles, was later fitted on to the lower crown -- possibly by the Magyar (Hungarian) king Geza I (r. 1074-1077) at the end of the 11th century -- to form the Holy Crown of Hungary, commonly known as the Crown of St. Stephen (Szent Korona). The crown is of huge significance to the Hungarian people and the state of Hungary: technically, without it, Hungary ceases to exist.

crown of st. stephan, front view

The lower circular crown, the corona graeca, is the oldest. Made in the goldsmith shops of the Byzantine emperor Michael IV Dukas (r. 1071-1078), historians believe it was given as a gift to the Byzantine princess Synadene, wife of King Geza I (and niece of Byzantine Emperor Nikophorus III) by the Emperor Michael IV Dukas in 1074.

crown of st. stephen; blue sapphire & red almandine garnets on either side of center sapphire

The front of the crown has an enameled (cloisonn�) gold plate of Christ, depicted as Pantokrator, sitting on a throne raising his right hand for blessing and holding a book in his left. Directly under this is a large blue Indian sapphire. On either side of the sapphire is an enameled gold plate of a saint, followed by an almandine garnet, another sapphire and a green glass stone (possibly thought to be an 'emerald' -- as were all green stones -- at the time it was added).
Depicting Christ as Pantokrator (Greek for "Lord of All") -- sitting on a throne raising his right hand for blessing and holding a book in his left � is a typical representation of Christ in Byzantine art.
Six Degrees Of Separation: Hungarian king Bela III married Marguerite, daughter of Louis VII (the Fat) of France. She was half-sister to Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII and his first wife Eleanor of Aquitane. Eleanor's second husband was Henry Plantagenet (Henry II) of England. One of their sons was King John (1167-1216), signer of the Magna Charta, precursor to America's Declaration of Independence.
 crown of st. stephen: corona graeca
The upper part of the Holy Crown, the corona latina, is the newer of the two parts. According to legendary tradition, it was sent by Pope Sylvester II to young King Vajk, later known as Saint Stephen I (Szent Istvan) -- the first Hungarian king in 1000 AD. -- in recognition of his mission to turn the pagan Hungarians to Christianity. Appointing Stephen papal vicar for his country, the pope formally recognized Hungary as a "Christian state," an act that placed it on an equal footing with other European states for the first time.

back view, crown of st. stephen
photo: magyar nemzeti museum, budapest

Stylistically Romanesque in design, at front center of the crown it also has an enameled (cloisonn�) gold plate of Christ as Pantokrator. Around the rest of the crown are eight enameled gold plates, each depicting a different apostle. Surrounding each of these plates are filigree ornaments made of golden wire, pearls and almandine garnets. (The cross at the very top, bent at an 12 degree angle, has been that way for several hundred years -- no one knows how it happened.)
Almandine garnet was a favorite of 18th century and Victorian Era jewelers. It was once thought to cure melancholy and warm the heart.
Due to their deep red to brownish-red color, almandine garnets have sometimes been incorrectly called "hyacinths."
the kunz garnet

victorian almandine garnet & diamond brooch (ca.1870)

One of the most famous almandine specimens ever found was discovered on Manhattan Island in New York City by workers excavating a sewer line on 35th street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue.
Named the Kunz Garnet, after George F. Kunz (1856-1932), the great gem expert for Tiffany & Co., Kunz called the stone, found in 1885, the "finest large garnet crystal ever found, perhaps, in the United States."
The specimen, reported to be seven inches in diameter and weigh nine and one-half pounds now resides in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.