Amethyst fading?

[Melaine]

So I just pulled out our Inspired by Finn stash to check out my broken amber necklace (Hoping I might fix it...) and I saw that many of the amethyst stones in DDs necklaces have gone completely white! That seems weird, no? According to IBF it can happen but they look strange. Kind of sad about that. Some of them are still the original purple! Anyone seen this happen before?

[indigo99]

Where did you store it? I think that different temps can change the color, but I can't imagine most storage places would have extreme temp changes.

ETA: Apparently man-made (irradiated) amethyst is more likely to change back to quartz although I guess they could still sell it as real amethyst. Electro-magnetic fields can affect the color too.

[Melaine]

Well, they were in my jewelry box so moderate temperatures, but they ARE right below the charger for our cell phones. Do you think that could have done it? Seems so crazy!

[indigo99]

I don't really know, but it sounds possible. The color is caused by iron inside the stone, and radiation and sunlight can affect it.