hello! I purchased this amethyst (at least, it was sold to me as amethyst) for only five dollars at a street fair. I am almost certain it's real as it was able to scratch an expensive glass surface easily. but that's as far as I can get. in most places it looks like regular, clear quartz with purple amethyst underneath. there are some pink spots beneath the Quartz, too. where it's not purple, it has a strong blueish green color to it. I'm assuming that's because the bottom surface of he matrix (that's what the base of the cluster is called, right?), which has a strong patina, is showing through. but the patina is chipping off on the bottom, so it might be paint? I'm really confused. is this just a normal amethyst with weird colorization?
You have a lo end specimen of amethyst, most probably from Brazil. The quartz color varies because the amethyst quartz crystals are lo end (high quality amethyst is much darker purple with a more uniformly purple color). You are correct; the underlying bluish-green color is due to the matrix color showing thru into the more light colored and clear quartz crystals. The matrix of Brazilian specimens is sprayed with a rubbery epoxy (?) to stabilize it and making handling it more easy. Be glad your specimen didn't cost any more than $5. CHEERS.....BOB thanks! I do have some dark purple, higher quality amethyst but aesthetically this is a favorite of mine. I really appreciate the information though, especially about the rubbery epoxy.
