Thanks to their beautiful red colour, Czech garnets, which are only found in the Czech Republic, have always held a unique position among other natural stones. The traditional manufacture of jewellery using Czech garnets, which dates back to the 18th century, is successfully carried on today by Granát, Družstvo umělecké výroby Turnov. (Genuine Czech garnets are hallmarked with the letter G or G1).

Historic deposits of Czech garnets were only found in Bohemia, especially in the Bohemian Uplands, since prehistory to the end of the 19th century. Poorer quality garnets also come from the area around Kolín nad Labem and Podkrkonoší.

The state’s goldsmith workshops began using Czech garnets in around the 13th to 14th century. Among the countless historical relics, one of the oldest examples, apart from the coronation cross of King Přemysl Otakar I, which is kept in the cathedral treasury in Regensburg, is a pendant from the grounds of the Monastery of the Knights of the Cross near Charles Bridge.

Prospecting, mining and processing methods for garnets were perfected at the beginning of the New Age. Stone cutters and polishers quickly developed their techniques and skills at the grinding mills in Prague-Bubenec, Brandýs nad Labem and Český Krumlov.  At the turn of the 17th and 18th century, one stone cutting workshop, Jiří Witthaler and Sons, had a monopoly on cutting and polishing Czech garnets in Prague.

Garnet jewellery (coin frames, medals and medallions, chains, crosses, rings), clothing accessories (bonnets, clasps, hooks, buckles, buttons) and other haberdashery items from the so-called rural baroque period to 19th century historicism were not the sole domain of country folk. Many items were also bought by the poorer burghers.

Industrial design appeared in garnet jewellery at the end of the 18th century and especially from the mid 19th century, influenced, among other things, by the publicity of world expos, beginning with the first in London in 1851, where Czech garnet manufacturers regularly won awards. North Bohemian manufacturers of metal costume jewellery took advantage of the boom, including companies such as    August Menzel in Jablonec nad Nisou, as well as others in this region and in Prague. Together with more expensive jewellery using Czech garnets, they also produced more affordable pieces using glass imitations.