Most of us are familiar with this vibrant and gorgeous purple gem. Those lucky folk who are born in February get to call it their birthstone. I bet though there are lots of fascinating facts about amethyst that you do NOT know! I am here to share some of these tidbits with you now.

Where does the purple color come from and Where is it found?

Amethyst is a variety of quartz. The purple color comes from the iron in the stone. The more iron it contains, the deeper the purple color is. This gem is mined in many locations around the globe. Right here in Arizona is one of the premier mines called the 4 Peaks Mine. The finest and deepest colored amethyst is also found in Uruguay and Brazil.

How did amethyst get it’s name?

The name comes from the Greek ‘amethustos’ meaning not drunk. It was believed that if you drank from a vessel made of amethyst.. or wore amethyst.. you were immune to drunkenness’. Oh how I wish this was really true!!

Is this gem durable? How large can an amethyst geode be?

The answer is YES, this gem is quite durable and hard. It registers 7.5 on the mohs scale. To put this in perspective let me tell you that a diamond is the hardest gem and it registers 10 on the mohs scale. All quartz such as amethyst are 7.5 and considered quite hard. Keep in mind though that amethyst geodes like the one pictured in this blog have lots of fragile and pointy sections. These will break off quite easily depending upon their size.

The largest amethyst geode weights 28,660 pounds and is 9 feet 10″ long, 5 feet 10″wide and 7 feet 2″ high. It is displayed in Shandong Tianyu Museum of Natural History in Shandong, China.

Now you know so much more about amethyst! I will close with this famous quote.

“Amethyst dissipates evil thoughts and quickens the intelligence” Leonardo Da Vinci.

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