Steve Moriarty, the owner of Moriarty's Gem Art, talks about this new Amethyst from Rwanda. Amethyst has never been found in the country of Rwanda until just recently in 2015. For those that don't know where Rwanda is, it is a country in East Africa just north of Tanzania...which is a country Steve travels to quite frequently.

Steve talks about the Rwanda Amethyst and actually says it's some of the best Amethyst he has ever seen in his 40+ years in the jewelry and gemstone business. He has cut Amethyst from Zambia, Brazil, Madagascar and many other countries, but never has he seen something like this...and from Rwanda! He believes this is some of the best material ever due to the depth of color and the phenominal red-violet color each stone shows. And if you see the stone in daylight, it goes to more of a blueish-purple giving this stone a very stong color shift, rare in Amethyst.

And don't think you can only get this stone in small earring sizes, Steve has been cutting very large pieces, great for collectors, or rings and/or pendants. And even stones he has cut to be over 60 carats. Steve also shows the rough he has, which weigh over 750 carats!!!

The rough also cuts clean stones. Most of the rough that he gets is un-heated (very unusual in the business, especially with Amethyst), so what you see in the rough form is the close to the color you will get in the gemstones.