Red garnet has historically been a favorite of nobleman and royalty alike; its color, a display of their power and class. Garnet is most commonly seen in the jewelry trade as a dark red gemstone. However, garnet forms in many varieties including green, orange, yellow, red, purple, brown, black, blue, and colorless. Each of these colors belongs to subcategories of a large mineral group of twenty species called the garnet group.

The garnet species pyrope is mother to the deep red variety that is most commonly seen in the jewelry trade. In the trade, the red variety of pyrope is referred to as the Mozambique garnet, after the place from which it is commonly mined.