The Amethyst Scepters from Onyang

Korea Amethyst

by

David JEGOU

The story begins in 1995. I was for the first time in Korea. I was doing a summer internship at the KAIST. I decided to try to bring back some minerals for my collection. I knew of the pretty scheelite crystals from the Taehwa mine... but nothing more. It was in late august when I went for a trip to Kyeongju. It is a historical city, one of the main tourist attractions in Korea, in the south east part of the peninsula. I and two of my friends were planning to spend three days in this area before moving to Hongdo. 

As we were walking in the streets of the city, I noticed mineral specimens (pyrite, quartz ... in a jewelry shop. I entered and started inquiring about minerals... in English. Well... at first, the woman seemed very embarrassed, since she couldn't understand what I was talking about. Then she tried to sell me jewelry... I made my way towards the exit. And then I saw... covered with dust, were five large specimens of amethyst. One of them was a cluster of three large scepters with white bodies and purple heads  My friends were already out of the shop, asking me to hurry as the bus that we were supposed to take to go to some site was to leave soon. And I left...

In April 1996, I went back to Korea for vacation. I decided I would go back to Kyeongju and find a way to get some of these scepters. I asked one of my Korean friends to come with me. He would play the role of a interpreter. We went back to the same shop. The owner was there. He was very surprised at the question I was asking, but he kindly answered as far as he could.

We soon learned that the samples had been extracted from a mine in Eonyang, south of Kyeongju. He had himself worked there for some time and explained how they used to work to bring the amethyst out. He told us the mine was still open, and we could go there by following his instructions. And so we did on the next morning. 

I purchased some samples from him. They were stored in a jar full of water, so that the color was really great, even if the surface of the crystals was sometimes dull.

A trip to Eonyang, when you don't have a car is an expedition. We first took a bus from the express bus terminal in Kyeongju. It took about half an hour to go to Eonyang toll-gate. There is no stop IN Eonyang. From the toll-gate, we had to walk 10 minutes to the city. We then asked about buses that could drop us by the mine. At the time, there was no shuttle... and we found a bus that was going towards the mine. We then had to walk for about half an hour... picking few crystals on the road. Now... I would recommend taking a taxi. It is fast, it is safe and especially good when it is raining... 

The mine is not far from Eonyang... in fact, it is just on the other side of a hill. You can not miss it. There are numerous holes everywhere and the site has been converted into a tourist recreation park the "land of amethyst caves". You can visit one part of the mine (a generous amount of concrete has been spread on everything, there are street lamps...) and do some shopping. At the time, the site was still under construction, and nobody should have been allowed in... but since we were young students, and I was foreigner... well, we managed to have a free visit. The photos of the site were taken in April 1996... and I can tell you that it has considerably changed since then...

Most of the amethyst which is used in jewelry in Korea, used to come from these mines and others located somewhere north of Eonyang. Nowadays, the price of foreign amethyst is so low, that it was decided by the owner that a different vein had to be dug... the tourist one. However you can still enjoy cut amethyst from Eonyang at the shops downtown. The mining seems to continue, although I didn't manage to get much information on that point. 

Some samples on display at the mine would be perfect for my collection... unfortunately, I didn't manage to buy them. And considering the price of low quality samples, I guess that I couldn't afford such good specimens. But, I was lucky enough to make pictures of them.

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