A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Is this Agate??

These 2 pieces were given to me today, fairly large and heavy looks to be Chrystal quarts in them*the white* don't know what the black could be and darker brown and maroon color,, the largest color is amber maybe?? does anyone know rocks well enough to I.d. them?? I've look it up but can't find enough clear info,, I understand and know agates form differently with different colors,, depending on the area,, the person that gave them to me had no idea where they came from,(area of origin)

Wow Diane--where DO you come up with these beautiful rocks. Not that I am an authority, but yes, I think it is Agate, the whole piece

Wow! Whatever it is it sure is pretty!!! I would think it is agate also.

Ok - I just asked Don, who is a geoligist. He said it is all variations of quartz - NOT amber. Amber is made from pine tar, not quartz. If the center is bluish purple at all, it could be amethyst.

"It is definitely a geode that was cut and polished"

And I say it's very niiiiiiiiice!

I think the white part is quartz, and the purple stuff is amethyst to me. I have no clue what the brown part is but it's beautiful!

Kenny - amethyst IS quartz - just purple!

As Don has said... it is all quartz, just different colors.

That is a very pretty geode. How big is it?

Thanks Lynne I was hoping Don would take a peek at it,
I really can't tell if it's actually got a purplish hue to it in the center of IF it's just reflecting the color of the darkest area next to it, I put on my technician magnifying loops and it appears to have a lot of "air pockets" that would enable it to reflect light to make it the appearance of a very light purplish color It does however have solid 'spots' of very dark maroon, /burgundy ,




the largest piece is 5" (sat on end) and the widest part measures 2 & 1/2", so I can only imagine it was a fairly large geode.

It is nice ..... especially when it's got the sun shining directly on it

I knew that...well...maybe not lol I've never seen brown quartz before...quartz is that stuff in the clocks and watches0 right?