![]() It remained an expensive stone, reserved only for the fortunate, right up until ginormous deposits were found in South America in the 1800s. It even ended up in many a country's crown jewels. Rhea the Titan gave it to Dionysus, god of wine, to preserve his sanity from the vine. So, it may shock you just a little bit to learn that gem-quality amethyst used to be considered just as valuable as rubies, celebrated in myth and legend. So, everyone knows amethyst is a purple variety of quartz, yeah? And we're used to it being abundant and fairly inexpensive, aside from those jaw-dropping giant geodes and some really fabulous art. Believe me when I say we'll get there soon, though! So in today's post, we're actually not going to talk much about geodes at all. However, along the way, I got diverted by some very interesting facets of amethysts, including some pretty neato human history. So I decided to go big and explore the origins of those enormous amethyst geodes suitable for making into bathtubs. I must start our foray into this month's birthstone with a confession: I didn't think amethyst would be exciting. Trust your local gemmologist or registered NCJV valuer to separate and identify them for you."The stone is an amethyst but I, the tipler Dionysus, say, 'Let it either persuade me to be sober, or let it learn to get drunk.'" This list is just the beginning there are many more amazing and beautiful purple gemstones for you to discover. Less common are apatite, alexandrite, imperial topaz and benitoite. For example, a sapphire doublet has a natural corundum crown and a purple glass or synthetic sapphire pavilion, while a garnet-topped-doublet has a garnet crown fused to a purple glass pavilion.Ĭommon imitators and synthetics of purple gemstones include glass, synthetic cubic zirconia, gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG), yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG), synthetic sapphire and synthetic alexandrite. Taaffeite, a rare collectors’ gemstone, was initially misidentified as spinel due to its pale mauve colour and overlapping properties.įor a different twist on a purple gemstone, there are ‘composites’ composed of two or three different components that are intended as imitations. Kunzite may be irradiated to intensify the purple colour. Kunzite – from the spodumene family – and spinel may occur in a similar light-toned lavender however, the former is separated by its strong pleochroism. Spinel is available in a stunning array of violet, lavender and purple hues varying in intensity. Scapolite varies from lavender to violet but it is much softer and strongly pleochroic. Two uncommon natural gemstones that could be mistaken for amethyst are scapolite and spinel. Less exotic but more accessible is purple or ‘grape’ garnet, a high-quality purple-red to cranberry rhodolite garnet from India that is a mixture of pyrope and almandine varieties. Pure purple hues are extremely rare, and thus stones are more commonly seen with a secondary modifier such as blue, grey or brown.Ī less expensive alternative is irradiated diamond or coated, white diamond. Tourmaline has a glass-like lustre and doubling of the back facets, whereas zircon has a diamond-like lustre. The purple posse continues with tourmaline and zircon. The trichroic colours, however, are different for each gemstone, which allows for separation. Iolite, from the cordierite family, may be confused with tanzanite due to a shared property called trichroism – where three different colours are observed from different directions. Medium-violet to bluish-violet tanzanite is softer than sapphire however, its abundance and price make it an attractive alternative. Image courtesy of Brendan McCreesh, O’Neils Affiliated ![]()
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