emerald green amethyst

[TKC]

Is there such a colored amethyst? It is untreated as advertised and from Russia. Is Russian producing such an amethysts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/43-55-CT-ATTRACTIVE-Natural-TOP-GREEN-BLUE-AMETHYST_W0QQitemZ140107326284QQihZ004QQcategoryZ10192QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[diamondfan]

I have seen green amethysts but they are lighter in color, more pale and soft in tone.

 

[Pandora II]

Ooooh, yummy.

That looks almost emerald like.

Pandora slopes off to research green amethyst...

 

[sarahthewarrior]

Oh my, that is yummy!

Let us know what you find out, Pandora!

 

[Mag00]

I found something:

Prasiolite "is a green-colored form of quartz, usually produced by artificially heat-treating amethyst."

however
"Natural Prasiolite has also been observed in Lower Silesia in Poland"
(there are probably other places too though)

I looked it up on google image search.
And the common color seems to be a greenish yellow.

Oddly enough, the few pages I searched, the only images that come up with a dark green/teal Prasiolite are the ones from Ebay.

 

[innerkitten]

Hmmm, something just not right about it. It seems to me that if naturally green quartz in that shade were available we here on pricescope would know about it by now. Know what I mean.

 

[innerkitten]

I just found this. They are calling it vermarine here.

http://www.tradeshop.com/gems/quartz.html

and this on gemhut

http://www.gemhut.com/prasio.htm

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 4/22/2007 4:15:33 PM
Author: innerkitten
Hmmm, something just not right about it. It seems to me that if naturally green quartz in that shade were available we here on pricescope would know about it by now. Know what I mean.

You're quite right. Just because a stone is advertised as "unheated" doesn't mean something else hasn't been done to it. It could be lab-made quartz, which is produced in many non-natural colors. Most of it comes from Russia.

It could also be the result of "center-fused color treatment" which is currently being done to quartz and topaz and maybe other stones. A color layer is diffused onto one surface, then another clear piece is fused to it with high pressure, high temperature (HPHT). It's cut as one stone and the colors are great, but not natural. It's basically a high-tech triplet, one of the oldest gem tricks in the book done with modern science. If it's center-fused the claim of "unheated" would be untrue.

My advice: BEWARE if you're looking for a natural stone!

Richard M.

 

[twodoor2]

That stone on ebay looks too perfect, no zoning, perfect cut, deep green (even the irradiated is a minty green). I suspect it''s a lab gem, especially since it comes from Russia. I think the mint amethyst (prasiolite) is irradiated, and if you heat amethyst, it turns to citrine (lots of ametrine is created that way). Not 100% positive though.

 

[ger100]

If you look at some of this seller''s other auctions, he has some VERY large pieces, also in top condition. This sounds like lab-created stuff to me...for starters, too big, too perfect, too green!

JHMO
Ger

 

[ger100]

FU: I asked seller about this/these stones. Reply (I just got i) was: "our dealer got rough from russia''''

He did not answer question about whether this was man-made material, or what part of Russia this came from!

Caveat emptor.

 

[jstarfireb]

Green amethyst (which, by the way, I am LOVING right now), is produced by irradiating a regular amethyst. It''s also called prasiolite or green quartz. It''s definitely more of a minty green color, so I agree that this is probably lab created, but it''s pretty nonetheless!