In Honor of January’s Birthstone, Let’s Look at NYC’s Subway Garnet

In honor of January’s official birthstone – garnet – we invite you to  step into our way-back machine and take a magical ride to a balmy  Midtown Manhattan in August of 1885, where immigrant laborers are busy  digging the New York City subway and sewer systems.

Deep under West 35th Street, near Broadway, one of the  laborers unearths a reddish-brown alamandite garnet weighing an  incredible 9 pounds, 10 ounces. As heavy as an infant and about seven  inches in diameter, this 24-facet behemoth was originally named the  Subway Garnet.

Shortly after its discovery, the supersized garnet was seen more as  an oddity than a valuable gem. In fact, urban legend states that the  Subway Garnet spent its formative years as doorstop in a shop until it  was turned over to George F. Kunz, a geologist and member of the  Mineralogical Club. The Subway Garnet became the Kunz Garnet, in honor  of its benefactor and protector.

Although Manhattan is famous for a lot of things, being a source of  fine gemstones has never been on the top of the list. Nevertheless,  throughout its history, Manhattan’s bedrock, which is streaked with  veins of coarse-grained granite, has yielded a treasure trove of  amethysts, opals, tourmalines, beryls, chrysoberyls and garnets, though  rarely of gem quality.

Today, the Kunz Garnet resides in the American Museum of Natural  History and remains one of the largest garnets ever found in this  country.

If you’d like to celebrate a January birthday with garnet jewelry,  you may want to choose a stone slightly smaller than the mighty Kunz.  According  to the American Gem Trade Association, the versatile garnet comes in a  virtual rainbow of colors, from the deep red Bohemian Garnet to the  vibrant greens of the Russian demantoid and African tsavorite. The  oranges and browns of spessartite and hessonite hail from Namibia and  Sri Lanka. Also available are varieties in the subtle pinks and purples  of the rhododendron flower.