Birthstone of the Month

By Will Postell - “Rock Reporter”

Amethyst, as this month’s birthstone, is generally considered the most widely acclaimed variety of the quartz family. Some of the wellformed characteristically-colored groups of crystals (geodes and druses) can be used in their natural state with certain careful cutting and polishing techniques making them into very attractive ornaments. The purple to pink is generally referred to as "Rose de France."

Amethyst with an uneven fracture is hexagonal (six-sided), terminated with three faces, is about 2.65 times as heavy as water, and rates as a 7 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness. There has been some discussion on the impurities that give amethyst its color with manganese being touted as the apparent cause. More likely, and logically, has been the relationship between the presence of iron and the color of amethyst. This has been shown to be true by careful chemical analysis. Also, many amethyst crystals contain flakes of bright red to reddish brown hematite just under the outer zone. Thunder Bay, Ontario (Canada) and the ironproducing area of the great lakes is particularly noted for this. Amethyst occurs worldwide and in a variety of fair to noteworthy crystals and layers. Amethyst became the State Gemstone of South Carolina in 1969.

High quality amethyst was discovered in the large Brazilian and Uruguayan deposits at the end of the 19th century.