Even if you thought you'd seen the best agate Brazil has to offer you owe it to yourself to see this one! This gorgeous 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. Brazil has adopted more environmentally friendly mining laws that have resulted in the closures of roughly 90% of the agate mining sites in the country which means museum grade pieces like this are rapidly becoming rare and difficult to find with most premium specimens now in private collections. The color combination is really unusual and changes dramatically depending on the light source and intensity! It's a translucent light shade indoors, and looks very golden amber when held up to a strong light source, particularly the sky. The center of the field is water clear ice like quartz crystal that makes the entire stone look like a frozen pond. It's a large and beautifully prepared specimen of truly flawless quality. The stone looks a bit darker and arguably even more beautiful with indoor lighting than the bright light of the outdoor sky, but it's gorgeous in any light. 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. Several years ago I had the chance to purchase a large agate collection where the curator had acquired truly flawless agates over the span of multiple decades. These stones were added to this collection during a time of abundance and a steady supply of top quality, flawless agates coming from several different agate mines in Brazil. In the years since this collection was built, the mining laws changed due to environmental and water quality concerns and the supply of agates coming out of the country has reduced to a trickle that many estimate to be less than 10% of what it had been at its peak. This has had the predictable impact on both the supply, quality and price of premium agates and finding the kinds of stones once readily available on the market has become a challenge at best. The wholesaler's I have purchased from for decades in Tucson no longer carry rough Brazilian agate and the finished stones that are available are both lower grade and higher cost than they were just a few years ago. Today, the best agates to be found are often in collections that were built when the supply of these often flawless fortification agates was more prevalent. We acquired this stone from one such collection and refinished the better display face with our own, markedly superior lapidary work to produce a true museum piece. The back side of the stone still features the imported finish which is all most collectors ever see which provides a nice contrast to appreciate the improvement!
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! It's a beautiful stone in any light and the it represents one of the finest (and largest) examples of a truly flawless agate that you'll ever see!
It measures about 9 1/2" x 6 3/4" across the mirror polished face and is cut approximately 0.30" thick. Weight is 1.40 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. Several years ago I had the chance to purchase a large agate collection where the curator had acquired truly flawless agates over the span of multiple decades. These stones were added to this collection during a time of abundance and a steady supply of top quality, flawless agates coming from several different agate mines in Brazil. In the years since this collection was built, the mining laws changed due to environmental and water quality concerns and the supply of agates coming out of the country has reduced to a trickle that many estimate to be less than 10% of what it had been at its peak. This has had the predictable impact on both the supply, quality and price of premium agates and finding the kinds of stones once readily available on the market has become a challenge at best. The wholesaler's I have purchased from for decades in Tucson no longer carry rough Brazilian agate and the finished stones that are available are both lower grade and higher cost than they were just a few years ago. Today, the best agates to be found are often in collections that were built when the supply of these often flawless fortification agates was more prevalent. We acquired this stone from one such collection and refinished the better display face with our own, markedly superior lapidary work to produce a true museum piece. The back side of the stone still features the imported finish which is all most collectors ever see which provides a nice contrast to appreciate the improvement!
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! It's a beautiful stone in any light and the it represents one of the finest (and largest) examples of a truly flawless agate that you'll ever see!
It measures about 9 1/2" x 6 3/4" across the mirror polished face and is cut approximately 0.30" thick. Weight is 1.40 lbs.