Amethyst Value, Price, and Jewelry Information

---

Amethyst is crystalline quartz in colors ranging from pale lilac to deep reddish purple. With a relatively high hardness of 7, the February birthstone is a fine facetable jewelry gem for all purposes. Lower grades of material can be cabbed, carved, and made into a great variety of beads and other ornamental objects.

Amethyst Value

Value for amethysts depends almost entirely on color. Siberian mines once produced the world's finest stones.  They featured a particularly rich purple color that glowed with red and blue flashes. Today the term “Siberian” no longer refers to origins. Instead, this is now a trade and grade term referring to colors similar to those of the amethysts mined in Siberia. Stones with Siberian color command the highest prices.

Since amethyst is readily available in large sizes, its value per carat climbs gradually, not exponentially. Since this stone is plentiful, there is little reason to pay top dollar for pieces with visible inclusions or inferior cutting.

For more information on amethyst value and quality factors, consult our amethyst buying guide.

The International Gem Society (IGS) has a list of businesses offering gemstone appraisal services.

Amethyst Information

Comments

Although Siberian reigns atop the value listing, light-colored amethyst has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. The lightest, pinkish violet shades are called “Rose de France,” a clever bit of marketing. The artistry of gemstone faceting can shine through these gems if given fancy and unusual cuts.

This variety of quartz receives its color from the presence of iron and other trace elements as well as natural irradiation.

Amethyst has popular associations with purity and spirituality. Perhaps the most famous bit of folklore for this stone connects it to the prevention of drunkenness. For more on myths and traditional beliefs relating to this gemstone, consult our symbolism article.

Synthetics

Amethysts can be grown hydrothermally in labs. Manufacturers can also create them by bombarding specially prepared smoky quartz with gamma rays.

Enhancements

A variety of treatments can change the color of amethysts. However, strictly speaking, only those gems with lilac to deep purple colors remain amethysts. All others simply become different colored varieties of quartz. For example, amethysts heated to yellow or red-orange colors are, by definition, citrines.

• Heat treatments can lighten amethyst, turning it green, blue, or yellow/orange. (Occasional, undetectable, stability excellent).
• When heated to 400–500º C, amethysts may turn brown, red, and sometimes a green color.  These green quartz gems are known as prasiolite.
• Heat treatments of both natural and synthetic amethyst can produce similarly colored material (ametrine). Such stones are indistinguishable from natural ones.
• Irradiation plus heating may also produce brown, orange, and yellow hues.

Sources

Today’s major sources are Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Zambia. Brazil can produce stones of large size but generally moderate color. They often show color banding, despite the best efforts of cutters to minimize it.

Many gem enthusiasts prefer the usually smaller but more richly colored stones from Zambia as well as, more recently, Uruguay.

Four Peaks, Arizona produces top-quality facetable amethyst.

Other notable gem-quality sources include the following:

• Australia; India; Madagascar; Mexico; Morocco; Namibia; Nigeria; Russia; South Korea.
• United States: Georgia; North Carolina.

Stone Sizes

In terms of size, amethyst is one of the exceptions of the quartz family.  Most quartz can grow quite large and be cut into gems weighing thousands of carats.  However, there are few clean examples of amethysts of 100 or more carats.

Amethyst rarely occurs in very large, transparent masses. The fine gems at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC) are exceptional, such as the 1,362-carat Brazilian stone and the 202.5-carat stone from North Carolina.

Trade Names

• Siberian amethyst: dark purple color with flashes of red and/or blue.
• Golden amethyst: ametrine.

Misnomers

You might encounter amethysts heated to a brownish yellow color sold as “Madeira topaz.” Stones with lighter shades are sometimes sold as “Palmyra topaz.” Amethysts heated to a reddish color sometimes receive the name “Spanish topaz.”

Other gem species sometimes receive names connecting them to amethyst. For example, violet sapphire is sometimes referred to as “oriental amethyst.” Kunzite is sometimes referred to as “lithia amethyst.”

All these names are erroneous and misleading. Avoid using them and be alert if vendors use these monikers without explaining the gem’s true identity. As quartz, amethysts belong to a species distinct from topaz, sapphire, and kunzite.

Consult our List of Gemstones with False or Misleading Names for more examples.

Care

Lapidaries can use amethysts for any type of jewelry setting, including rings, as well as carvings, beads, and other decorative objects.

Although quartz gems are very durable, amethysts are sensitive to extreme heat. Furthermore, inclusions can make these gems susceptible to shattering in ultrasonic cleaners. Avoid mechanical cleaning systems and stick to a soft brush, mild detergent, and warm water, instead.

See our Gemstone Care Guide for recommended cleaning methods.