Blue Amethyst?

[VRBeauty]

I was perusing the estate pieces at a respected local jewelry store today when I spotted a platinum ring with what looked to me like a large, beautiful oval blue sapphire cabachon surrounded by many small diamonds set in the gallery. The salesman insisted that the center stone was an amethyst. The lighting was good -- we were next to large windows -- and I couldn''t detect any hint of red in that stone! The stone was ~5X~18mm, and 5-10mm high and absolutely clear. The style looked deco or earlier.

Is there such a thing as a blue amethyst?

 

[T L]

Amethyst is very dichroic, and some material has blue in it. However, I've never seen an amethyst without some purple to it. Some are more reddish purple, or bluish purple, but purple is always the primary color, and the red and blue are secondary. Be careful it's not a synthetic stone. Much of the "perfect" amethyst on the market is synthetic, and often looks "too good to be true."

I have an African amethyst with a good deal of blue in it, and at times, it can look violet.

 

[VRBeauty]

Thanks, TL. Thata''s my experience too.

Has anybody else out there seen or heard of blue amethyst?

 

[LD]

No. I suspect that it''s not Amethyst at all. How experienced was the seller? I know that sounds a silly thing to say but sometimes sellers buy in goods and just sell on with what they''ve been told rather than testing. A word of caution - could it be a synthetic? These are quite prevalent in estate pieces so if you like the ring, buy it for that rather than the central stone. If the central stone turns out to be a nice stone then all the better!

 

[chrono]

Hey TL, that''s a really cool avatar.

OK, on to amethysts:
There''s no pure blue amethyst. Amethysts might show much blue and red flash but they will still be primarily purple. Either it''s something else or it''s synthetic.

 

[chrono]

Here''s a gorgeous amethyst from Finewater showing a lot of blue but it''s still primarily purple.

 

[T L]

Date: 2/7/2009 8:12:39 AM
Author: Chrono
Here''s a gorgeous amethyst from Finewater showing a lot of blue but it''s still primarily purple.

Yes, that is gorgeous. African amethysts tend to show quite a bit of blue. There is transparant pure blue quartz, but it''s synthetic.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Pure blue? Synthetic quartz.

 

[VRBeauty]

Thanks, everybody. I didn''t loupe it, but the stone appeared to be exceptionally clear -- probably too much so for a sapphire of that size, so synthetic quartz makes sense.