Feburary Birthstone

Feburary Birthstone:
Amethyst.



Amethyst:

















February’s birthstone, has been fashionable as a decorative stone since the days of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. This gemstone is important to healers, as it is widely distributed and therefore very reasonable in price. Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz. The mineral quartz, both natural as well as synthetic, has numerous industrial uses and practical applications, as in electronic devices and as resonators to generate waves of a fixed frequency. Purple amethyst, though, is valued as a gemstone, by collectors and jewelry enthusiasts, and as beads, bookends, sculptured carvings, bottles and boxes, and other decorative items.
February's purple birthstone has been found among the possessions of royalty throughout the ages. The intense violet hue of Amethyst appealed to early monarchs, perhaps because they often wore this color. Purple dye was scarce and expensive at one time, and so it was reserved for the garments of kings and queens. Amethyst has been found in ruins dating as far back as the ninth century, adorning crowns, scepters, jewelry, and breastplates worn into battle. A large Amethyst is among the closely guarded gemstones in the British Crown Jewels.
The "cursed amethyst" in the photo was donated to the Natural History Museum in London. Former owners reported that every individual who has owned the stone since the mid 1850s suffered from some type of disaster or misfortune.
Amethyst is famous for its purple color. Not all amethyst is purple in color, there are also light purple, reddish-purple, bluish-purple, dark purple and there is even almost black in color. Since purple has always been the color of royalty, amethysts abound in the ornaments of in the British Crown jewels and in the adornments of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians as well. Tibetans consider amethyst sacred to Buddha and fashion rosaries from amethyst beads.
The name “amethyst” comes from the Greek which means “sober”. In ancient Greece, the gemstone was associated with the god of wine, and it was common practice to serve this beverage from amethyst goblets in the belief that this would prevent overindulgence