Gem Quiz

This Gem Looks Like Amethyst, Has A Color Range Like Quartz, But Isn’t Often Used In Jewelry

Yet, there’s hardly a gemologist who doesn’t own at least one specimen.

Published

5 years ago

November 13, 2019

Chris Burslem

This Gem Looks Like Amethyst, Has A Color Range Like Quartz, But Isn’t Often Used In Jewelry

A CLASSIC GEMOLOGY LESSON is to place me beside amethyst and see who — based on color alone — can tell us apart (it is but folly to try). While purple is my hallmark color, it is but just one in my wide spectrum. In terms of range of color, I am rivaled only by quartz. And whereas some varieties of quartz can dazzle, I glow. I am luminescent, sometimes even phosphorescent. I’m also pretty darn useful. I am used as a flux in the production of steel and aluminum, as an added mineral in water, to make camera lenses and telescopes. The one area I’m not so commonly employed is jewelry — too soft they say. Still there’s hardly a budding gemologist in the world who doesn’t own at least one specimen of me.

Who am I?

She Wanted to Spend More Time with Her Kids. She Called Wilkerson.

Your children are precious. More precious than gold? Absolutely! Just ask Lesley Ann Davis, owner of Lesley Ann Jewels, an independent jewelry store that — until the end of 2023 — had quite a following in Houston, Texas. To spend more time with her four sons, all in high school, she decided to close her store. Luckily, she was familiar with Wilkerson and called them as soon as she knew she wanted to move on to bigger, better and more family-focused things. Was she happy with her decision? Yes, she was. Says Davis, “Any owner looking to make that life change, looking to retire, looking to close, looking for a pause in their career, I would recommend Wilkerson. Hands down!”