LOVE, LAUGH, SHOP
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FEBRUARY FRIENDS!
Amethyst has been the most-prized quartz variety for centuries. Once available only to royalty, relatively plentiful supplies have made amethyst more widely available in modern times. Today, because of its availability and affordability, amethyst is used in mass-market jewelry as well as custom designer pieces. This makes amethyst one of the world’s most popular colored gems and the most commercially important gem-quality quartz variety.
Because of its wine-like color, early Greek legends associated amethyst with Bacchus, the god of wine. Other legends reflected the belief that amethyst kept its wearer clear-headed and quick-witted in battle and in business affairs. Because amethyst was associated with wine, it was believed that wearing amethyst prevented drunkenness.
Fine amethysts have been set in religious jewelry and crown jewels for centuries. It was once considered equal in value to ruby, emerald and sapphire. It’s no wonder that fine amethyst adorns the fingers of bishops as well as the coronation regalia of the British royal family.
Amethyst is the purple variety of the quartz mineral species. It’s the gem that’s most commonly associated with the color purple, even though there are other purple gems such as sapphire and tanzanite. Its purple color can be cool and bluish, or a reddish purple that’s sometimes referred to as “raspberry.”
Most people think of amethyst when they picture a beautiful purple gem.
Amethyst’s purple color can range from light lilac to a deep, intense royal purple, and from brownish to vivid. Amethyst also commonly shows what is called color zoning, which in the case of amethyst usually consists of angular zones of darker to lighter color.
AMETRINE
The world’s only commercial source of ametrine is the Anahi mine in south-eastern Bolivia. Legend has it that a Spanish conquistador discovered the mine’s location in the 1600s and introduced the gem to Europeans when he presented several specimens to his queen. The mine had been given to him as a dowry when he married a native princess named Anahi. After that, the mine was lost for more than three centuries. Rediscovered in the 1960s, the mine’s ametrine began appearing on the market again during the 1970s. Today the mine, named Anahi for the legendary princess, also produces natural amethyst and citrine.
Transparent, bicolored quartz with the colors of both amethyst and citrine in the same gem is called ametrine or amethyst-citrine. The contrasting colors give it an intriguing appearance.
Fine ametrine shows medium dark to moderately strong orange, and vivid to strong purple or violetish purple. Larger gems, usually those over 5 carats, tend to show the most intensely saturated hues. Dealers look for an attractive half-and-half distribution of each color, with a sharp boundary between the two colors at the center of the fashioned gemstone.
Ametrine is often cut as a rectangular step cut because that style nicely displays the bicolor effect. Cutters try to emphasize both colors equally.
FROM OUR SUMMIT COLLECTION TO YOUR HOME
We carry different Amethyst creations from your simple stud earrings to one-of-a-kind designed rings fit for a Queen. With over thousands of carats of loose Amethyst of all sizes and shape, we can help design that perfect purple piece.
SAVE THE DATE
Our Vintage Violet Finds
Looking to gift your Valentine a special treat…say dinner and diamonds?
Each gift bag includes a $50.00 Gift Certificate at Summit Jewelers and a $25.00 Gift Certificate at Cyrano’s Café (our lovely neighbors down the street), with two mini bottles of Korbel champagne and a box of Godiva chocolates. A value of $100.00 for just $60.00! We have a limited number of bags, stop by today!
Will You Marry Me?
Let us help you find that perfect engagement ring for your sweetheart. We still have time for you to pop the question this Valentines Day! Whether you are looking for an engagement ring that is classic to traditional to a solitaire to a show-stopper or something that pops with color, we have it all.
Comments are closed
