My Blog

People have collected gem materials for thousands of years and marveled over their beauty. Through time and in all parts of the world, many people have believed that gem materials have the ability to heal, protect, or comfort a person who owns or wears them. Even though there is no scientific evidence that gemstones have…

Purple is a popular gemstone color and although natural amethyst is relatively inexpensive, some simulant materials are used. Purple glass is the most common and least expensive. Purple synthetic corundum is a more durable and convincing simulant. Another amethyst simulant is Nanosital, a man-made glass-ceramic that is manufactured in Russia in a variety of gemstone…

Even though amethyst is not an extremely costly material, synthetic amethyst has been manufactured at least as far back as 1970. Since then an enormous number of items have been produced from synthetic amethyst by faceting, cabbing and carving. These have entered all levels of the jewelry trade. This has disappointed many jewelry consumers and…

Amethyst is a durable gemstone, but some care is needed to maintain its polish and natural color. Amethyst has a Mohs hardness of 7, and that is generally considered hard enough for almost any jewelry use. However, with a hardness of 7, it can come in contact with a variety of common objects that can…

The color of amethyst can often be modified by heating. Much of the yellow to golden quartz sold as “citrine” is actually amethyst that has been modified by heating. This heating can be natural or done intentionally by people. Natural or intentional heating can also change the color of amethyst to a pale green. The…

One of the world’s most interesting gem materials is ametrine. It is a variety of bicolor quartz in which citrine and amethyst occur in contact with one another in a single crystal. The word AMEthyst and ciTRINE were combined to yield the name “ametrine.” This gem material is rarely found in nature, and the only commercial production is…

In 2016, mineral dealers began selling specimens of “grape agate”. The specimens were composed of tiny purple spheres that ranged in size between about 2 and 8 millimeters across (see accompanying photo). The specimens were called “grape agate” because of their purple color, their botryoidal habit (from the Greek botrys, meaning a “bunch of grapes”), and because of…

Amethyst is best known as a purple, transparent, faceted gem that is sold by the carat. However, most of the world’s amethyst production is commercial products that are sold by the pound, kilogram or ton. These include amethyst geodes, amethyst crystal plates, amethyst crystals and amethyst tumbled stones. The amethyst geode market is very strong, with many…

Small amounts of amethyst are found at many locations throughout the world in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Faceting, cabbing and ornamental grade amethyst can be found in all of these locations; however, the amount is usually insufficient to support an ongoing mining operation. The world’s most important amethyst deposits are usually found in the fractures and cavities…