Happy February everyone! The birthstone of February is the super popular Amethyst, which is a purple coloured quartz. It can be found in abundance and spotted in almost any jewellery store in the world. Apparently, it was once believed that the Amethyst gemstone could protect people from getting drunk!
As mentioned, Amethyst is a quartz and its colour is smetimes obtained through treatments. Although it is most often seen as a purple quartz, this gemstone also ranges from light pink to deep reddish or bluish violet and sometimes even in a mix of these colours within the same gemstone. As it is fairly hard (7 on the Mohs scale), it is suitable to be crafted into jewellery, and not just earrings, brooches and pendants, but also those pieces which may take more wear and tear like rings and bracelets.
Amethyst can be found in many places around the globe including North and South America and parts of Africa.
Seen here is a photo of one of my favourite Joanne L designs – the Lunar Ring. It is set with a beautiful purple Amethyst and flanked on the sides by white spinels. The Lunar Ring was originally launched with a smoky quartz but this version was customised with a specially cut checkerboard Amethyst for a bespoke order ring.