Amethyst Jewelry – World of Gemstones

The second in our series that explores the world of gemstones, is the beautiful amethyst, a member quartz family. Amethyst jewelry can exist in a range of purple hues.  Amethyst was a coveted gem for thousands of years, and the Ancient Greeks even believed it offered protection against drunkenness (the Greek words ‘amethystos‘ means ‘not intoxicated’).

Source: Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers

Amethyst Jewelry

Amethyst can be found all over the globe, geologist consider the Jacobina Mine in Brazil to be the best source of amethyst.   The amethyst has its hardness (7), its weight, and its moderate refraction in common with the other quartzes. However, gemologist have noted that the crystal structure of amethyst is different from other quartzes.  The construction is stratified; as a result, lamellae and areas of varying color intensity often can come about. For this reason, there are relatively few large cuts of amethysts that have an evenly distributed dark color.

There is a considerable amount of synthetic amethyst on the jewelry market, and it can be extremely difficult to identify the synthetic variety, even for experienced gemologists. In fact, make sure your jewelry contains natural amethyst by working with professionals at Schwanke-Kasten.

Schwanke-Kasten invites you to see some our current selections of jewelry items using amethyst on our Schwanke-Kasten website. Moreover, make sure to check out our handy Amethyst Shopping Guide.