Amethyst (For those with a Passion for Purple)

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Amethyst is such a beautiful color. Personally I like the darker richer colors of purple versus the lighter colors. I seem to have a liking for the concave faceted stones. Purple may not have the same appeal of the "red" in ruby but is an exceptional color when the richness and color are present in fine pieces...




Amethyst is a transparent purple variety of Quartz which comes in colors of light (lilac) to dark purple. Highly prized pieces of this quartz come in shades of purplish-red to purple red. Regions where amethyst are sourced include Brazil, Uruguay, & the Ural Mountains. Other areas where the gem is sourced include Sri-Lanka, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, the United States, Madagascar & Iran. Some of the worlds finest stones came from Siberian mines which are now no longer being worked. Siberian stones possess the highly prized reddish glow accompanying blue highlights which command the highest prices. Since the availability of the gem is abundant a perspective buyer should insist on purchasing a stone with good cutting and exceptional clarity. The stone is gorgeous when the depth of color, cut and transparency is evident. Amethyst proves a reasonably priced gem which is well suited for jewelry with a hardness of 7 on the Moh’s scale.




Post pictures of your favorite Amethyst cutting style or some of your favorite pieces....




-Josh Rioux


Sitka, Alaska

 

[valeria101]

Hi!

Your effort is much welcome! If you ever get to write about Alexandite, maybe the pics below would help.... Two stones are from India (Adnarpradesh) and one from Brazil (the cushion). The colors were too nice to pass - I had to show them somewhere

 

[just_looking!]

Just spotted this thread whilst I was looking for jewellery sets. I think Kayla17 had a lovely amethyst set and this geometric heart cut would look great in a necklace! Wish I knew how to upload more than one picture as www.faceters.com has some really nice coloured amethyst!

 

[strmrdr]

Amethyst is yummy!

Iv had my eye on this one:
http://www.diamondexpert.com/

While not Homer quality those concave faceted gemstones are pretty awesome.
Iv seen one of them in person that diamondexpert sent me to look at with an order I placed.

 

[strmrdr]

I almost bought this one but it was going to cost around $80 for a 14k setting for it because of the size.

http://www.diamondexpert.com/

 

[just_looking!]

That one looks really lovely! How will you have it set? By itself or with other stones?

I like amethyst with flashes of red in it and jeff graham's stone shows this beautifully. I just need a sparklie fund now!!

 

[strmrdr]

I would set it in a simple gold pendant by itself.
imho a fancy setting takes away from nice gemstones unless the gemstones are melee size.

 

[yowahking]

friends of mine own the only working Amethyst mine in the US which is the 4 peaks mine here in AZ. Once you get a good piece of 4 peaks, most other locations look like purple glass.
Scott