Carbuncle (gemstone) Carbuncle (gemstone) A carbuncle is any red gemstone, most often a red garnet. The word occurs in four places in many English translations of the Bible. The English King James translation is a rendering of the Hebrew Masoretic text (Old Testament) and Greek Textus Receptus (New Testament). "Carbunculus" is a word used in Latin for a small coal (or charcoal), and also for any of a number of precious or semi-precious stones, especially those of a red color.; Jerome apparently chose the term because of its similarity in meaning to the Septuagint's ἄνθραξ ("anthrax" meaning "coal"), which was in turn
Gemstone as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye (cymophane) have been popular and hence been regarded as precious. Today such a distinction is no longer made by the gemstone trade. Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds still have a reputation that exceeds those of other gemstones. Rare or unusual gemstones, generally meant to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs, include andalusite, axinite, cassiterite, clinohumite and red