Amethysts

[XChick03]

My boyfriend''s birthstone is an amethyst (born the day after V-Day) and I would like a really nice amethyst ring. My problem is that I can''t find really anything I like. The settings I have found that I do like all seem to be set in sterling silver and I would prefer white gold. My other problem is that most of the nice rings I''ve seen have amethysts that are really huge and I just want something simple but nice. If anyone knows of a good place to buy good, but affordable amethyst jewelery, I''d be very grateful. Thanks.

 

[valeria101]

Don't know the answer about ready-made jewelry, but would drop a word about Amethyst in general... it is quartz, with relatively low RI, so stones need to be cut deep and show of more color than brightness (which they don't have much of) at their best. Below 5 cts or so... that is tall order. Small Amethyst is chosen with a tradeoff about what the stones look like. Sure enough, these are not expensive and this makes little difference.

My 2c


This is about what I have in mind - for color and cut. I may be my illusion, but it seems to me that faceted crowns (i.e. stones cut without a traditional table) hide windowing in low RI. This one complies:

There should be allot more out there aside.

Would it bother you not knowing if the stones are synthetic or natural? There are no tests for amethyst (and few bother), but most in ready-made jewelry is synthetic.

My 2c

 

[XChick03]

Thanks for the reply Ana. I really love the color and cut of that one, and definitely prefer the darker purples. To be honest, I am not really a fan of the stone. I guess I only want one for sentimental reasons and I think it would mean a lot to my BF. So, I probably wouldn''t care if it was real or synthetic, as long as it looked nice. Do you think I''d be better off just trying to find a nice, synthetic stone? Also, is it obvious that a lab-created amethyst isn''t natural? Only asking because with my birthstone, emerald, I can usually see a difference between the two, and its not a good difference.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/5/2006 12:14:19 AM
Author: XChick03

Do you think I''d be better off just trying to find a nice, synthetic stone? Also, is it obvious that a lab-created amethyst isn''t natural?

Amethyst is almost never labeled whether natural or synthetic and it isn''t obvious at all (to me) which is what. Definitely not the same situation as for synthetic emeralds. For once, both types are expected to be clean and large... natural stones may have some tell tale color zoning or inclusions, but these rarely make it in cut gems.

What I am trying to say is that... most of the time sellers would not know any better than you whether their stones are natural or not just by looking at them. Some practical judgement helps: if the jewelry was part of a large batch of identical pieces - the chance to have natural stones in them goes down, for example. And so forth... Price is not always an indicator, since for either kind, the cost of cutting is allot more than the cost of rough.

Some sellers insist to track down the origin of the stones they sell, and this is definitely the case with fancy signature cuts.

If you don''t mind either, this is good - because it is likely that you will not know what you have.

As far as I know...


Is any of the rings you liked online?

 

[XChick03]

Okay, I understand what you mean now. And I don''t think I''d have a problem with that. As far as finding things online, I haven''t really seen anything that jumps out at me yet.

I kind of like this one, just because of the color of the amethyst.

And I think this is sort of cute. Its from Zales and you can get your birthstones in it, but then I have that synthetic emerald problem.

 

[XChick03]

I just found this one in the gallery and its probably the nicest amethyst I''ve ever seen.

 

[PrecisionGem]

There is a lot of man made Amethyst going around. However, you should be able to get a really nice stone, well cut for not too much money if you look in the right places.