Mozambique Garnet

This is garnet as most people picture it: a deep, warm red that leans faintly orange in daylight and goes richer under lamplight. Mozambique garnet is a trade name for a pyrope-almandine mix, and it is the variety that turns up clean in commercial sizes — so you can set a large stone without flinching at the price.

Mohs 7 to 7.5 and no cleavage plane, which is the practical case for garnet as an everyday red: it takes knocks a softer or more brittle stone would not.