22860000 22860000 (`@````````` 266 263 5 110185200 110185200 Text Box:    The deposits with the greatest economic significance are in various states in southern Brazil and in neighboring Uruguay. The third major export country is Madagascar. However, this gemstone is spread all over the world. Good specimens were found in Aztec graves, though the deposits from which they were extracted are no longer known today. On the Canadian side of Lake Superior in North America, there is a place named Amethyst Harbor. The violet quartz is found there in ample quantities, though rarely in gemstone quality. The fame of Idar-Oberstein, the German gemstone centre, is based on domestic amethyst finds. In earlier times, raw material was delivered there from the Zillertal Alps. When these nearby deposits ceased to yield, the old cutters' tradition was able to be preserved thanks to supplies organized by German emigrés in South America. Russian amethysts, which were mainly mined in winter in the Urals, were once famous for their particularly beautiful color, which shone magnificently even in artificial light. In Tibet there were amethyst rosaries, for there the gemstone was dedicated to Buddha and was said to promote clarity of mind. In Sri Lanka, stones which have rolled down on their own are found in debris.   The most beautiful of all crystal quartzes has also posed one or two riddles for the scientists, and indeed they still haven't been completely solved to this day. The amethyst has its hardness (7), its moderate refraction and its weight in common with the other quartzes, but the crystal structure is different, and it is most unconventional. The construction is stratified, as a result of which areas and lamellae of varying color intensity often come about. This explains why there are relatively few large cut amethysts of an evenly distributed dark color, in spite of its having been found so abundantly in all parts of the world. It is only in the last few years that scientists have been fairly certain of having found the real cause of the color. It is now attributed to certain iron constituents in connection with natural radioactive radiation.  

Text Box: Amethyst Origin and Lore

Text Box: Amethyst Facts ¨ Hardness: 7.0 ¨ Color: Very pale to very deep purple ¨ Durability: Extremely durable and fairly tough ¨ Availability: Intense Purples in all shades are readily available. ¨ If you heat Amethyst it will tune into Citrine ¨ Amethyst is the birthstone for February ¨ Amethyst is the stone for the 4th, and 17th wedding anniversaries ¨ Amethyst can also be green in color (but only after it is irradiated) ¨ The first synthetic Amethyst was created in the 1970's ¨ Ancients believed that Amethyst prevented drunkenness     The entire amethyst story

 

Text Box: Amethyst Information

   Its color is as unique as it is seductive, though in fact this gemstone of all gemstones is said to protect its wearer against seduction. The amethyst is extravagance in violet. For many thousands of years, the most striking representative of the quartz family has been a jewel coveted by princes both ecclesiastical and secular. Moses described it as a symbol of the Spirit of God in the official robes of the High Priest of the Jews, and the Russian Empress Catherine the Great sent thousands of miners into the Urals to look for it. In popular belief, the amethyst offers protection against drunkenness - for the Greek words 'amethystos' mean 'not intoxicated' in translation. A more apt stone for the month of February, particularly if there is to be plenty going on in the way of carnival celebrations, could thus hardly be wished for.

 

 

 


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