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Your advantages with IGNEOUS

6 weeks right of return

You can return the purchased gemstones within 6 weeks. We will not ask any questions. As a rule, we will bear the costs for the return shipment*.

Top quality at good prices

IGNEOUS prefers to offer top quality gemstones. Thanks to low fixed costs, we can offer you these at comparatively good prices. Regardless of whether you buy the stones as an investment or for your collection.

Certificate of authenticity for each stone

Gemstones with a value of less than €1000 are guaranteed to be genuine with an in-house gemstone report. IGNEOUS owner René Mayer is a qualified gemologist and is one of the few Austrians to have completed the FEEG - Federation for European Education in Gemmology training.

Umbalith – the gemstone from the Umba Valley

Umbalith (also known as Umbaite) is named after the place where it was found: the Umba Valley in Tanzania. It was discovered there in 1978 by the Umba River. Umbalith belongs to the group of garnet stones. In the trade, the term “umbalith” is usually used synonymously with “Malaya Garnet”. Like 99% of all stones in this group, umbalith is also a mixed crystal. It is a spessartine with parts of almandine, pyrope and grossular.

In addition to umbalith and spessartine, the garnet group also includes demantoids, tsavorites and rhodolites, as well as many other stones.

Umbalith with color change: from blue-green to purple

Some umbaliths can change their color, an effect that is also called “changeful” in the technical jargon. This effect is known from alexandrite, among other stones, which is why it is also called the alexandrite effect.

In umbalith, traces of chromium and vanadium can produce such an effect. In natural light, these umbaliths are blue-green or grey-green. In artificial light, they turn reddish. The colors range from dark pink to violet to crimson.

The Umbalith from the Umba Valley

The Umbalith comes from the Umba Valley in Tanzania. Other sites are Kenya and Madagascar.

Use: Umbalith for individual pieces of jewelry

In the Igneous gem shop, you can buy high-quality umbalith, which is ideal for further processing into jewelry. A jeweler or goldsmith can use it to make a ring, bracelet or necklace according to your ideas. This stone is relatively unknown, which gives the individually crafted piece of jewelry additional uniqueness.

Depending on your preference, the setting can be made of silver, white or yellow gold. You can also combine the stone with other gemstones, for which both small diamonds and colored gemstones are suitable. When choosing the color, however, you should note that the umbalith can change color.

According to the American Gem Society, garnet is the birthstone of the month of January. This also makes the umbalith a special jewelry gift in January.

Properties: hardness & inclusions

This gemstone has a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. This makes it a relatively hard mineral. The hardness scale was established by Carl Friedrich Mohs, who compared the hardness of different minerals and ranked them on a scale from one to ten. Talc is the softest mineral, with a hardness of one. The diamond is considered the hardest known mineral, with a hardness of 10.

Umbalith can have small inclusions.

Most common cuts: umbalith in facet or cabochon cut

Umbalith is almost always faceted. From round and oval brilliant cut to octagonal or square step cut, all shapes and cuts are possible. However, round or oval cut umbalith are most commonly found.

Umbalith are also rarely cut into smooth cabochons.

Umbilith
Umbilith
Umbilith
Umbilith