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Alison Murray
16th February 2010 13:21

Amethyst - the birthstone for February

 

Hi

It's actually my birthday this week and so seemed appropriate to tell you a little bit about my birthstone which is amethyst.

I don't actually own any amethyst jewellery, a bit of an oversight on my part I think and well worth mentioning as it is my birthday after all! To be honest before I came to work here with Harriet, it wasn't a stone that I thought I particularly liked. I have always been drawn to vibrant coloured stones like gorgeous green striated malachite, firey orange garnets and blood red rubies and not what I think of as the more feminine stones like the delicate pink rose quartz and the romantic lilac sapphires to name a few. I never really thought of amethyst as being vibrant, but that was because most of the amethyst that I had come across were in rough stones on new age stalls or cheaply made beads and didn't seem to have any vibrancy about them or any depth to their colour. Working here though, I have seen this stone used in many beautiful creations, some of which are delicate and feminine, but many also have the vibrancy that I love, including surprisingly, some amazing engagement rings. Here are a couple of examples.

9ct white gold amethyst and diamond engagement ring
Kite shaped amethyst 18ct white gold engagement ring

A couple of pieces that were made here and also really caught my eye are this hexagon necklace,

Sterling silver and hexagonal amethyst necklace

and these stunning amethyst and white sapphire earrings. The workmanship here is exquisite and the deep purple amethyst are so rich and vibrant.

9ct white gold earrings with white sapphires and amethysts

We currently have this bracelet in our Cambridge studio which is made from roughly cut amethyst, don't they look great, really organic and tactile.

Hand knotted bracelet with Amethyst

Anyway, I will leave the in depth stone information on amethyst to our gemology experts to explain to you in a later blog and I'll just give you a little trivia information on amethysts which I hope will interest you.

The legend of the origin of amethyst comes from Greek myths. Dionysius, the god of intoxication, who was angered by an insult from a human, swore that he would take revenge on the next human that came his way and created a pride of fierce tigers with which to carry out this aim. Amethyst, a beautiful young maiden (aren't they always?) was on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Diana and passed by and immediately the tigers were unleashed upon her. The goddess Diana quickly turned Amethyst into a statue of crystalline quartz to protect her from the claws of the tigers. When Dionysus saw the beautiful Amethyst he wept tears of wine and his tears fell on the statue and stained the quartz purple.

Interestingly the word amethyst originates from a Greek word amethustos which means 'not drunken', as it was believed that wearing amethyst would protect against intoxication by alcohol (useful I think, if you are celebrating a birthday!).

Amethyst was chosen to be used in some of the principal ecclesiastical rings and even today is worn by Bishops and it is believed that this is because, according to mythology, the amethyst is meant to inspire a love of fairness, a sense of duty and a devotion to high ideals.

Ali

Alison Murray
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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