White Amethyst: Does it Exist?

Mostly, when you think of amethyst, you probably think of the various purple hues, from a lighter tone to something much darker, such as an Uruguayan cluster.  This is due to the presence of iron and other trace elements in the crystal and it’s what gives all amethyst a purple color.

Now, if you’re wondering if an amethyst can be white, it can; however, natural amethyst won’t be white.  Some things have to occur in order for a white color to appear.

Let me explain.

Can amethyst be white?

If you’re looking for an purely white amethyst, that’s not going to happen, unless you expose your amethyst to direct sunlight for a long period of time.  Even so, an amethyst that fades to a pure white color is often an artificially colored stone, as a real natural amethyst typically doesn’t lose its color.  If your amethyst does turn white, you may have to question the authenticity in the first place.  The manganese and iron impurities often is found in amethyst are part of the stone, so these elements, technically, shouldn’t fade if that makes sense.

Now, amethyst can have partial white portions.

For example, an amethyst can be shaped as an egg-like geode with the outside shell often white in color.  This is due to the agate’s outer shell weathering over time.

Other amethyst geodes can have white crystals spread amongst the amethyst, such as seen in the picture above.  These slight white crystals are calcite and are usually short-prismatic, some of which can be double terminated.

Smaller amethyst crystals, such as those found in Kazakhstan, for instance, can be smaller individual short prismatic crystals that sits on a quartzite matrix.  Oftentimes, the amethyst crystals that form are often white with a purple amethyst point.

Another, such as spirit quartz, can often be seen with pale-like amethyst crystals at the tip, almost white in color.

Lastly, amethyst scepters can be covered by small white crystals, as seen above.

As you can see, white amethyst doesn’t exist if you’re looking for a piece that’s 100% white; rather, various amethyst clusters, geodes, scepters, etc, can display white crystals, which have been encrusted into the amethyst itself.  While you can find a mostly white cluster, what you will see is more of a “quartz” since it wasn’t formed with the purple color.

Summary

In the end, an amethyst will get its purple color from iron, but amethyst, citrine, rose quartz and smokey quartz are all a variety of quartz.  If you look closely, they will display the same crystal structure and take its color from the minerals present inside the crystal.  If your crystal looks like an amethyst, but it’s white, then it’s more than like a piece of quartz.