Ametrine – Romantic, Rare and Legendary

Ametrine in Excelsior Springs!  A legendary gem, romantic and rare, was curated by the Sturm Bros.’ on a recent buying trip to Arizona.

Ametrine – amethyst and citrine in the same crystal. Ametrine is very rare, as there is only one natural source.  The ancient and romantic Anahi mine (read to the end) located in a remote region of Bolivia near Brazil can be reached by boat or very small plane.  The air strip is a mowed grass strip in a field. All of the mines material and equipment are moved by boat.

   Excellent quality ametrine has bold colors of purple that fades to vivid orange/yellow. Stone carvers favor this stone for creating free form and fantasy cut gemstones. Sturm Bros.’ leaf cut cabochon (see our Instagram video post on cabochon gem cuts) is graded good because the colors are faint. The unique free form leaf shape can be set in almost any mounting created for a pear shape gem.

The romantic tale is believed to go like this: A 17th century conquistador married a beautiful princess from the Ayoreos tribe of Bolivia.  Her dowry contained the Anahi mine, which was named after her. The conquistador returned with many stunning ametrines for the Queen of Spain.  Perhaps he never returned from Spain for the location of the mine was lost to history and the jungle until 1960.  Ametrines returned to the global market in the 1970″s. Thus, the Sturm Bros.’ traveled to Arizona, found carved leaf shaped ametrine and carried a legendary piece of gem history to Excelsior Springs MO.