Amethyst belongs to the quartz family and stands out as the most renowned purple gemstone. Its hue can range from a delicate lavender to a deeply saturated purple, with the most prized variations exhibiting an intense reddish-purple or pure purple shade.

​

On the Mohs scale, Amethyst has a hardness level of 7, making it quite robust due to its absence of cleavage, which prevents easy splitting along distinct planes in the gemstone.

​

The distinctive purple color of Amethyst results from the presence of iron and aluminum impurities during its formation. However, it's worth noting that many Amethysts available in the market undergo heat treatment to enhance their color and clarity significantly.

​

Brazil is the primary source of the world's Amethyst supply, although it can also be found in various other countries such as Zambia, Uruguay, Russia, Madagascar, South India, and even in the United States—particularly in Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Maine.

​

Delving into the history of Amethyst, the term itself stems from the Greek word "amethystos," meaning "not drunk." Ancient Greeks believed that wearing Amethyst or placing alcohol in a cup made of Amethyst could prevent intoxication. Throughout history, Amethyst has symbolized royalty, particularly during the Middle Ages, being considered as precious as diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies until its abundance was revealed in Brazil.

Tiffany Stone is a purple, blue, yellow and white gem material that can be cut and polished into beads, cabochons and tumbled stones. Its Mohs hardness varies between 5 and 5 1/2, making it a very easy stone to work with. For that reason, Tiffany Stone is best used in pendants, beads, earrings, sculptures, among many other uses. It is a rare and unusual "opalized" (agatized) mineraloid that formed in mineralized nodules called "beryllium nodules."

​

Tiffany Stone is composed of varying combinations of minerals such as bertrandite (beryllium silicate), beryl, calcite, chalcedony, cobalt, dolomite, fluorite, manganese oxide, rhodonite, quartz, and zinc. The purple color that characterizes Tiffany Stone was created by fluorine gases, while the distinct black-colored veins were caused by manganese oxide; all of which were sealed within the sedimentary layers, becoming opalized over time.

​

The rareness of Tiffany Stone comes from the fact that to date, the only location it has been found is at the Brush Wellman beryllium mine in the Topaz-Spor Mountains of Juab County's Sevier Desert, in western Utah. Beryllium (Be) is a lightweight, high-strength yet brittle alkaline earth metal that is used in structural materials for aircraft, missiles, communication satellites, and space vehicles. Adding to the scarcity is the fact that the extraction process for beryllium involved crushing large quantities of material that yield only 1 to 2 percent of the concentrated ore. This remote mine is now closed to the public.