Amethyst

February Birthstone

The birthstone for February, amethyst is a purple variety of quartz that owes its famed colour to irradiation and contamination by trace amounts of iron and manganese. Similarly to quartz, amethyst ranks at number 7 on the Mohs scale of gemstone durability, therefore making it a sound choice for use in jewellery making.

Amethyst Sources

South America can be considered as the most important source of amethyst in the 21st century; the abundance of the gemstone can be found in Brazil, followed by substantial deposits in Bolivia and Uruguay. Amethyst is also relatively common in the northern hemisphere, occurring in several locations across Canada and the United States. In South Carolina amethyst is considered as the state’s official gemstone. Another significant producer of the stone would be Zambia with its local mines jointly delivering approximately 1,000 tons of purple quartz per year. Further deposits can also be found in Lower Austria, South Korea and India.

Deep Russian

Up to the 18th century, amethyst was considered as a rare and thus expensive gemstone, found mainly in the Ekaterinburg district of Russia – that is, until the South American deposits were discovered, which then further resulted in a significant plunge in the value of the gem. Nevertheless, even today the Russian amethyst is considered to be one of the finest and highest-graded varieties of the mineral.

Cure for Drunkenness

The name ‘amethyst’ is derived from the ancient Greek word ‘amethystos’, loosely translated as ‘not drunk’, having its source in a popular belief amongst early Greeks that wine-like colour of the stone would prevent its wearer from getting intoxicated while indulging in the beverage. Amethyst was also popular with Ancient Egyptians, who carved it into numerous intaglios, as well as Persians and Peruvians, who used the violet mineral as an amulet against witchcraft. To this day Tibetans consider amethyst sacred to the Buddha and make prayer beads from it.

Royal Jewel

Throughout centuries people associated colour purple with regality, power and sacredness, therefore it did not take long for amethyst to secure its place adorning religious and royal jewellery. One of the most famous connoisseurs of the gemstone was Russian Empress Catherine the Great, who amassed a considerable collection of amethyst jewellery during her reign. The mineral has also been popular among British monarchs; The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom feature several amethyst-embellished objects, and the currently-reigning Queen Elizabeth II owns an impressive antique parure known as The Kent Amethysts that originally belonged to her great-great-great-grandmother, the Duchess of Kent.

Synthetic Amethysts

When it comes to amethyst buying, a certain degree of caution is advised as there are several methods to enhance natural or produce synthesized stone. Amethysts can be heated in order to rid them of unwanted brownish inclusions, or to improve and lighten the colour of darkened samples. Different varieties of quartz can be artificially irradiated to produce amethyst; similarly, subjecting natural amethyst to a prolonged heat treatment might result in the stone turning yellow – consequently transforming it into citrine. Synthetic amethysts can be produced in the lab environment by means of hydrothermal growth. This method, developed by the end of the nineteenth century, allows to create gem-quality amethysts with the exact chemical and physical properties as those of natural stones. Hydrothermal amethysts are very difficult to distinguish from organic ones; the currently available options of gemmological testing are not cost-effective given the relatively low value of stone, therefore amethysts should only be purchased from trustworthy sources.