February Month Birthstone- Amethyst
Happy February, This month we welcome the beautiful amethyst birthstone.
The gemstone Amethyst is the Birthstone for February. It is also the Zodiac stone for the constellation of Pisces. Amethyst is associated with spirituality, wisdom, sobriety, and security.
Amethyst is the purple variety of the mineral quartz and is a popular gemstone. Although it must always be purple to be amethyst, it can and does have a wide range of purple shades. Its color is unparalleled, and even other, more expensive purple gemstones are often compared to its color and beauty. If it were not for its widespread availability, amethyst would be very expensive.
The name "amethyst" comes from the Greek and means "not drunken." This was perhaps due to a belief that amethyst would ward off the effects of alcohol, but most likely the Greeks were referring to the almost wine-like color of some stones that they may have encountered.
Amethyst can occur as long prismatic crystals that have a six sided pyramid at either end or can form as druzes that are crystalline crusts that only show the pointed terminations. As a mineral specimen, amethyst is popular for its color and nice crystal shapes that produce a handsome, purple, sparkling cluster.
However, amethyst is not the same everywhere. Different localities can produce a unique amethyst to that particular region or even to that particular mine. Experts can often identify the source mine that a particular amethyst came from. The key to this is the specimen's color, shape of crystal, inclusions, associations and character of formation.
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