Color Change Garnets Any gem that changes color is a rare find and a treat for collectors. Garnets exhibit the widest variety of color changes in the gem world, with almost every hue exhibited.

It is commonly said that garnets come in every color of the rainbow except blue. This is still true in natural light, but there are recent discoveries of garnets that turn blue in artificial light.

Color change garnets are mostly pyrope and spessartite in composition. Except for the color change, they are identical in properties to the Malaia variety. Their primary source is Africa.

Idaho garnets, which are primarily almandine/pyrope mixtures, occasionally show a strong color shift from red to purplish red.