Apologies for the poor photo - I will try to replace it with a properly focused one when the rain stops - but the stone is gorgeous even with the poor focus! Even if you thought you'd seen the best agate Brazil has to offer you owe it to yourself to see this one! This agate slab came from a collection we purchased a decade ago and we re-worked the finish in our shop to produce a truly marvelous agate display specimen! This is one of the nicest agate slabs I've offered this year and one of only a small handful of true collector grade agates in our latest series of offerings. It's a particularly delicate, thin cut slab that really lets the light transmit through it easily to reveal the intricacies of the countless bands of fortification agate framing the crystal geode opening in the center. The color combination is really unusual and changes dramatically depending on the light source and intensity! It's a golden amber and molasses shade indoors, and looks very lovely and glowing when held up to a strong light source, particularly the sky. The stone looks much darker and arguably even more beautiful with indoor lighting than the bright light of the outdoor sky, but it's gorgeous in any light. The giant drusy cavern in this agate would make an incredible natural frame (the opening is about 5" x 4 1/2" inside). I'll let the photo do the raving - this is a really stunning, eye catching agate display specimen!!
I've always been a fan of the top grade fortification agates that are found in Brazil. There are several varieties, many representing the finest, largest agates found anywhere on the planet. The best grades have sharp, naturally colorful fortification bands with no fractures whatsoever in the translucent agate. A couple of years ago in Tucson I had the chance to buy a large barrel of extra-large uncut blackskin agates imported directly from Brazil. The agates I saw in the barrel reminded me of oversized Condor agates with deep rich oranges, reds and blues and some of the most amazing and intriguing agate patterns I'd ever come across! They ended up cutting even better than I'd hoped and I've since bought another barrel and will be working these for years to come. Where this gets interesting for you of course is that these are stones I'm cutting myself and preparing the way *I* would want to display them. They're cut thick to let all of the color come from light entering the front of the stone which brings out the rich reds and oranges and shows the more subtle shades like blues.
If you haven't seen our lapidary work before, you're missing one of the best treats on eBay! We've built our own specially designed laps to produce mirror finishes on high grade agates, jaspers and petrified wood. The work we do really sets us apart from pack and we've got the imitators to prove it! I treat every stone as if it were going in my own collection and you better believe, I'M PICKY!! Brazilian agate makes a particularly fine medium for us to show our work off on because it's so hard and fracture free. It takes an unbelievable polish that most rock collectors rarely get to see when shopping in retail stores and rock shows and even those that boast high quality lapidary work on eBay can't match.
This exquisite agate slab is a beautifully shaped and intricately detailed specimen with unbelievably rich, completely natural colors in a completely flawless slab. This one competes with the finest collectible fortification agates found anywhere! There's an intensity to the colors in this stone that is unlike most Brazilian I've seen (it almost looks more like a Condor agate).
It measures a little over 11" across the mirror polished face and is cut approximately 0.21" thick. Weight is 1.18 lbs.
I've always been a fan of the top grade fortification agates that are found in Brazil. There are several varieties, many representing the finest, largest agates found anywhere on the planet. The best grades have sharp, naturally colorful fortification bands with no fractures whatsoever in the translucent agate. A couple of years ago in Tucson I had the chance to buy a large barrel of extra-large uncut blackskin agates imported directly from Brazil. The agates I saw in the barrel reminded me of oversized Condor agates with deep rich oranges, reds and blues and some of the most amazing and intriguing agate patterns I'd ever come across! They ended up cutting even better than I'd hoped and I've since bought another barrel and will be working these for years to come. Where this gets interesting for you of course is that these are stones I'm cutting myself and preparing the way *I* would want to display them. They're cut thick to let all of the color come from light entering the front of the stone which brings out the rich reds and oranges and shows the more subtle shades like blues.
If you haven't seen our lapidary work before, you're missing one of the best treats on eBay! We've built our own specially designed laps to produce mirror finishes on high grade agates, jaspers and petrified wood. The work we do really sets us apart from pack and we've got the imitators to prove it! I treat every stone as if it were going in my own collection and you better believe, I'M PICKY!! Brazilian agate makes a particularly fine medium for us to show our work off on because it's so hard and fracture free. It takes an unbelievable polish that most rock collectors rarely get to see when shopping in retail stores and rock shows and even those that boast high quality lapidary work on eBay can't match.
This exquisite agate slab is a beautifully shaped and intricately detailed specimen with unbelievably rich, completely natural colors in a completely flawless slab. This one competes with the finest collectible fortification agates found anywhere! There's an intensity to the colors in this stone that is unlike most Brazilian I've seen (it almost looks more like a Condor agate).
It measures a little over 11" across the mirror polished face and is cut approximately 0.21" thick. Weight is 1.18 lbs.