The violet, purple to almost pink variety of quartz is called amethyst, an ancient name derived from the Greek amethyst, meaning “not drunken” as it was believed to protect those who wore it from drunkenness. It is the most highly priced variety of quartz.



Appearance:
The typical color is rich, violet-purple, often distributed in patches or bands. It can also be quite pale, but is generally same basic color, without any over tones. It is given both oval and drop mixed cuts, step cuts, and other types of cuts used for other stones. Specimens of good color but with too many inclusions are cut en cabochons. Stones of ten or so carats in weight are often found and even larger ones are not real. Amethyst normally has good luster and transparency. Well-form, characteristically colored group of crystals (geods and druses) are even used in natural state as ornaments.



Distinct features:
The distribution of the color, in striking patches and bands, is characteristic. When the stones contain inclusions, a series of discontinuous, wavy parallel lines, visible with the lens, indicates that they are certainly amethyst. As with nearly all quartz, the interference figure has a distinctive profile, which usually makes identification immediate. Quartz may resemble some violet synthetic corundum, but the later turn reddish in strong artificial light or full sunlight. Amethyst can also look vaguely similar to violet cordierite, which also has a strong, distinctive pleochroism. The much rare violet scapolite may look quite similar; at its physical characteristics are almost the same as those of quartz. Therefore, they can only be distinguished by an expert.



Occurrence:
The finest amethyst come(in great quantities) from brazil and neighboring Uruguay, from the United States, Madagascar, and the Soviet Union, India, Australia, south Africa, and many other countries.



Value:
A few centuries ago, deep-colored amethyst was highly priced; its value fell with the discovery of the large Brazilian and Uruguay deposits at the end of the nineteenth century. Now relegated to the status of a secondary gem, its value is quite low.