Question for Amethyst Guy.

[beaujolais]

Question for Amethyst Guy.

Does Four Peaks do both red and blue flash or just red? The blue flash is often from Uruguay?

- and -

what is thought of a pure medium grape jelly color?

Thanks,

 

[Barrett]

Four peaks amethyst is spectacular. It has mostly the red flash similar to the original siberian material but it also has decidedly blue color to it but not as often. I have one crystal from there I got from jack Lowell personally. He wrote a whole article about the location and the ammy crystals in gems and gemology. Like my beloved JXR most of the crystals have lots of color zoning. Like any american location the prices are much higher on the market than ammy''s from other localities especailly when the location is like Four Peaks which takes a miracle to reach..If you are ver interested in rough or crystals or cut stones you can let me know and I will give you jack''s contact info. he has probably the most extensive collection of material from there. As for grape colored ammy''s ..well the use of the word grape as a color can have different meaning to different people but generally the color of all those brazilian amethyst geodes you see are considered a grape color so unless you have a secondary color or a slight deviation of primanry color with another then grape colored ammy''s come out of brazil by the 55 gallon barrel full.
J

 

[T L]

Check out Gary Dutton at diamondexpert.com for Four Peaks amethyst as well. He carries it.

 

[Barrett]

My specimen is not the best or i would post a pic but I am a little ashamed by it...

..i had jack send me the pdf of his article but I can''t figure out how to take a pic of some of the cut stones off it to show..won''t let me...i will get him to send me a pic or two....amazing color

 

[chrono]

I have not heard of the 4 Peaks material described as grape jelly; they are typically darker. Most are also cut with a checkerboard face to minimize the colour zoning. However, their red flash is highly prized. I second Gary Dutton for those as well.

 

[T L]

I really should get a Four Peaks stone one of these days. Fine colored amethyst is still one of the most underrated and best values in the gemological world.

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks all !

Ah ha, I knew there was something going on with the checkerboards. I was recently thinking, about some stones I was looking at, "nice stone but checkerboard ? ! ? "

I think I'm o.k. with the contact info, for now, as I really need to get some things set first. Tempting, though.

 

[chrono]

There are many reasons for checkerboard cutting:
1. Hide inclusions in a clarity challenged gemstone
2. Help minimize colour zoning in a colour challenged stone
3. And for stones that look fine in all respects, some cutters do this to eliminate extinction (get an even colour across the stone with minimal dark areas)

 

[T L]

I have a trillion amethyst checkerboard faceted on all planes. I find that with amethyst, since it is a low RI stone, it helps somewhat to give it some sparkle factor and interesting color play inside the stone due to the trichroism (red, purple, blue). However, color is really what these beautiful stones are all about.

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks dear, knowledgeable friends.

Sonoma.

 

[Barrett]

Another cool thing about 4 peaks is it''s one of only one or two places where quartz is found with a c-face(flat-top). it''s ver very rare and very sought after by crystal, metaphysical, or mineral collectors. I only know of one other place that has quartz with a "c" face and that bolivia. It''s sort of like the way a topaz crystals forms with rhomehedral faces like quartz but with that flat-top which doesn''t happen on quartz except in rare cases. Four peaks has them which makes those speimens pretty sought after