Amethyst is a well known beautiful purple gemstone. Believed to to promote clarity, amethysts means “not drunk” in ancient Greek (GIA). Leonardo Da Vinci also wore amethyst for tinelligence and to ward off evil thoughts. Popular with the Catholic Clergy, it can be found in crosses and “the Papal Ring”.
Amethyst is a quartz stone and judged by color, clarity, cut and carat. It is an affordable stone and value does not rise much with carat size. The colors range from a faint color to a intense and dark purple, the clarity leads the cut, as amethyst is cut in a variety of fancy and designer experimental shapes, but included amethyst are usually made into cabochons or beads.
- Amethyst can lose color when exposed to daylight. It is not recommended to expose amethyst to sunbathing, or black light. Sudden changes in temperature also affect color.
- Once considered a valuable stone (with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc.) The discovery of Brazilian amethyst dramatically reduced the value of the stone.
- The Carat size of Amethyst does not affect value greatly, as it is readily available and common to see large stones. The most valuable grade “Deep Russian” is valued by the deep color. This stone is still lesser value than high grade Rubies and Sapphires however.
Read more about Amethyst here: Wixon GIA Gemstone.org Wikipedia Amethyst Meaning
