 Do
you love both the purple of amethyst and the sunny gold of citrine?
Sometimes amethyst and citrine colours are found in the same crystal
of quartz. These bicolour yellow and purple quartz gemstones are called
ametrine by combining the two names- Amethyst and Citrine.
Ametrine
is especially inexpensive when you consider that it comes from only
one mine in the world. The Anahi Mine in Bolivia
is the major world producer of ametrine. The mine first became famous
in the seventeenth century when a Spanish conquistador received
it as a dowry on marrying a princess named Anahi from the Ayoreos
tribe. Ametrine was introduced to Europe through the conquistador's
gifts to the Spanish queen.
Ametrine
is most typically faceted in a rectangular shape with a 50/50 pairing
of amethyst and citrine. Sometimes a checkerboard pattern of facets
is added to the top to increase light reflection. Ametrine can also
be cut to blend the two colours so that the result is a mixture of yellow,
purple, and peach tones throughout the stone. Ametrine is also popular
among artistic cutters and carvers, who play with the colours, creating
landscapes in the stone.
Ametrine
is a very durable gemstone suited to a variety of jewellery uses.
Most sizes and shapes are available but the colour contrast is
most pronounced in sizes of over seven carats.So
why compromise, when you can have two varieties of quartz for
the price of one?
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Ametrine
Chemical composition: SiO2 (minor iron impurities cause
ametrine's colors)
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Crystal
system: Hexagonal-R; 32 (trigonal-trapezohedral)
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Crystal
habit: Macroscopic crystals occur as horizontally striated
hexagonal prisms terminated by a combination of positive and negative
rhombohedrons forming six sided pyramids. It can also be massive.
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Twinning:
Dauphine twin with c the twin axis, Brazil twin with {1120} the
twin plane
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Index
of refraction:
1.54-1.55
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Color:
two distinct colors present, yellow-orange and purple
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Transparency:
transparent to translucent
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