Uvarovite is the rarest of the familiar garnets, and is seldom used as a gem. It only occurs in very small crystals, and a crystal large enough for faceting is usually preserved as a mineral specimen.

This garnet is only occasionally faceted for collectors into gems.

It was discovered in 1832 by Germain Henri Hess who named it after Count Sergei Semenovitch Uvarov (1765-1855), a Russian statesman and amateur mineral collector.

Uvarovite  is the only consistently green garnet species, with a beautiful emerald-green color.

Gemstone quality uvarovite is mined in the Ural Mountains, Norway, Finland, Poland (Silesia), Spain, South Africa, Canada, (Quebec), and in the United States .