Ametrine is a single stone which is part amethyst (purple quartz) and part citrine (yellow quartz). While I have found some great amethyst geode crystals on The Carver, citrine geode crystals are rare indeed. The most exotic and rare was the perfect citrine crystal I named The Unicorn after the mystical single-horned animal which has never been, in fact, found in nature. Rock & Gem magazine featured this stone which can be seen on this website. What has until now never been seen by me in the thousands of nodules and geodes I have discovered on The Carver and cut open is the combination of purple micro-crystalline quartz and citrine banding in a single band in a single geode.

Pictured here is 1/2 of the ametrine geode (photo #4225) and three cabs from the same geode which I have cut and polished.

As you view each photo, the citrine portion goes counterclockwise from 3 o’clock to about 11 o’clock, where it gradually changes over (in the single band) to amethyst, which then continues counterclockwise to approximately 4 o’clock.

What makes this specimen so unique is that while natural citrine is rare, more common natural amethyst, if heat treated to approximately 900 degrees, will turn yellow . . . to citrine. It is claimed that most gem quality citrine is not natural . . . but is heat treated amethyst! Soooo, the mystery of this specimen is: How was it created? Was just the upper right hand corner naturally heated amethyst which turned to yellow citrine? In a very small specimen it is difficult to see only a small part of a very small stone being heated to 900+ degrees while the rest of the stone remained
cool . . . and remained purple amethyst!

Click on the images to see enlarged versions.