Just ponder amethyst's superbly gorgeous purple colour, mixed with affordable price ranges over a good range of sizes and forms. Amethyst is such an interesting crystal form, that the ancients assumed the amethyst to be a valuable stone deserving of gracing royalty. The custom of regal purple continues even today.
Modern findings of large amethyst deposits in Russia and Brazil have risen availability and kept pricing in really affordable levels for even fine grades of amethyst. Amethyst is popular in every type of jewellery and is particularly appealing to folk who were born in February, since amethyst is February's birthstone. Especially popular are amethyst rings and amethyst necklaces, although other types of amethyst jewelry abound. Specimens, starting from tiny bunches of crystals up to an entire geode are highly popular to both collectors and as uniquely natural decor accents.
Plenty of the planet's best amethyst crystals are cropped from geodes regardless of their last use. Geodes are sizeable natural pockets of crystals inside of larger pieces of hollow stone. A geode can hold anywhere from one or two oz to hundreds or thousands of pounds of crystals. The following couple of paragraphs will help you understand how geodes come to be and how they get to you.
Mother Nature's Part Just about all amethyst geodes commenced life when a volcano exploded. As the lava flowed to the surface, gas pockets were entombed in the solidified lava, often in a kind of volcanic rock called basalt. Deep below the solidified basalt, Mother Nature continued to maintain a really hot molten lava structure. Once in a while, super-hot fluids would rise from the molten lava area and find their way to the gas pockets thru small cracks and crevices in the basalt. These liquids carried with them the mineral elements to build an attractive crystal.
Over millions of years, Mother Nature would typically do many cycles of this super-hot, mineral carrying liquids inundation process. Depending on the precise mineral composition of the liquids at diverse times, many colours of crystals and indeed different mineral crystals could be formed. Quite often, the quartz that forms in a geode could include big amounts of clear or milky white quartz in addition to the purple amethyst. Less frequently, wholly different sorts of crystals can be formed on top or embedded in the quartz most frequently this comes in the shape of fascinating, accenting crystals of calcite. Customarily the calcite crystals are clear or white, but on occasion they are a really enticing hue of pink.
Where on Earth Are the Geodes Found? In principle, geodes can be discovered anywhere on earth where volcanos contributed to shaping the earth's crust. Volcanos are vital mountain range builders, and most existing sources of geodes are in or near mountains. For amethyst, some of the most significant deposits are found in South America. A big area in southern Brazil contains sizeable basalt structures, plenty of which contain geodes of varied qualities. Brazil is by a large margin the largest exporter of amethyst geodes by volume. Across the border in Uruguay, a much smaller area contains important deposits of a few of the world's absolute best colored amethyst geodes. Also close by, in eastern Bolivia, there are one or two mines that contain amethyst deposits that include cavities with huge crystals. It is unrealistic to extract these massive crystals in complete geodes owing to the massive amounts of rock concerned, but from time to time clusters or individual crystals extracted from those structures make their way to the USA.
So How Did Mankind Take the Geodes? Removing geodes is a well refined mining process. Though the process involves heavy equipment and explosives to reach geode making areas in the basalt, all the main work involves a hefty dose of manual work. The geodes are first exposed thru mining efforts. The basalt is removed revealing the form of a geode in the floor, wall or ceiling of the mine. The step after that is to examine the inside of the geode to determine if the crystals are of high enough worth to pay for the manual effort needed to take the geode. This is most frequently done by cutting an inconspicuous hole in the geode and inserting a small light and viewing gadget. That looks like a flexible periscope.
If the crystal is an ordinary color like milky white quartz, the geode will be bypassed and frequently demolished in successive mining efforts. If the crystal is amethyst of a good color, then the geode will be by hand chipped out of the basalt a little at a time. This process can need days of work for a single geode. Once the geode has been removed from the base basalt, it is then carried to a workshop some distance from the mine. This typically involves using a wheel barrow to manually remove it from the mine itself, and then a wagon, narrow gauge rail vehicle, or truck to carry the piece to the workshop.
At the workshop any remaining basalt is removed and the geode is cut open to display the crystals. Frequently geodes are of a broadly columnar shape. These will be cut vertically along the longest part of the geode. These pieces are then prepared as a form known commonly as a cathedral. The geode at this initial stage has an external layer that contains many pointed bumps of the base level of the quartz. These are dangerous to both the workers and to the final customer. To circumvent the attendant danger of cuts, the geode is covered in a thin layer of cement to cover the sharp points. The cement is then ordinarily painted with a flat black color to enhance the aesthetics of the purple amethyst crystals. If the piece is to be displayed as a cathedral there will generally also be a little fill of cement at the base of the piece to form a level structure on which to stand the piece. Any remaining sharp quartz points along the entrance to the geode are then polished to a smooth surface for both appearance and safety reasons.
Infrequently, the crystals will be of such top quality the geodes will be displayed on steel stands. This is often true with geodes from Uruguay, which is internationally famous for the extraordinarily rich deep color of its amethyst.
How Do the Geodes Get Delivered? Geodes are heavy. A single cathedral that stands 40 inches or so tall, will typically weigh over a hundred pounds. They are also exposed to breakage. Remember the geode is a comparatively thin exterior of quartz with an enormous empty space within. This structure makes the geode vulnerable to breaking, especially when exposed to the shipping process... Which often feels like it attracts all of the world's 800 pound gorillas.
To defend the geodes, they are individually packed inside wooden crates. Crating costs are relatively cheap in Brazil where hundreds are made for a single shipment to the States. These crates are built for a single use and shipped strapped together to combine the strength of all of the crates. In the United States, crating costs of $200-300 for a 40 inch geode. It is quite common for a galley to have a made to order crate for a single geode to the final client. This does not include the cost of shipping the piece, which varies a lot based primarily on distance and the delivery type on the receiving end where home costs more than commercial, and white glove delivery inside of the office or home costs more than curbside delivery in your drive.
How To Choose the Best Amethyst? The short type of this is based solely on superbly good looks! High quality amethyst makes for extremely interesting jewellery pieces, little examples and tiny to large geodes that are OK for use as exquisite accents in your home or office decor. The dramatic good looks make a choice for only particularly high quality amethyst a great choice. Brazilian geodes of the highest qualities, have great color and very little ordinary coloured quartz in their bases. These geodes are good choices if you'd like to add a dramatic piece to your decor. Very high quality Uruguayan geodes make more dramatic decisions when they can be sourced. These are often shown on polished steel stands. Uruguayan amethyst has some of the best color of any amethyst found on earth.
Modern findings of large amethyst deposits in Russia and Brazil have risen availability and kept pricing in really affordable levels for even fine grades of amethyst. Amethyst is popular in every type of jewellery and is particularly appealing to folk who were born in February, since amethyst is February's birthstone. Especially popular are amethyst rings and amethyst necklaces, although other types of amethyst jewelry abound. Specimens, starting from tiny bunches of crystals up to an entire geode are highly popular to both collectors and as uniquely natural decor accents.
Plenty of the planet's best amethyst crystals are cropped from geodes regardless of their last use. Geodes are sizeable natural pockets of crystals inside of larger pieces of hollow stone. A geode can hold anywhere from one or two oz to hundreds or thousands of pounds of crystals. The following couple of paragraphs will help you understand how geodes come to be and how they get to you.
Mother Nature's Part Just about all amethyst geodes commenced life when a volcano exploded. As the lava flowed to the surface, gas pockets were entombed in the solidified lava, often in a kind of volcanic rock called basalt. Deep below the solidified basalt, Mother Nature continued to maintain a really hot molten lava structure. Once in a while, super-hot fluids would rise from the molten lava area and find their way to the gas pockets thru small cracks and crevices in the basalt. These liquids carried with them the mineral elements to build an attractive crystal.
Over millions of years, Mother Nature would typically do many cycles of this super-hot, mineral carrying liquids inundation process. Depending on the precise mineral composition of the liquids at diverse times, many colours of crystals and indeed different mineral crystals could be formed. Quite often, the quartz that forms in a geode could include big amounts of clear or milky white quartz in addition to the purple amethyst. Less frequently, wholly different sorts of crystals can be formed on top or embedded in the quartz most frequently this comes in the shape of fascinating, accenting crystals of calcite. Customarily the calcite crystals are clear or white, but on occasion they are a really enticing hue of pink.
Where on Earth Are the Geodes Found? In principle, geodes can be discovered anywhere on earth where volcanos contributed to shaping the earth's crust. Volcanos are vital mountain range builders, and most existing sources of geodes are in or near mountains. For amethyst, some of the most significant deposits are found in South America. A big area in southern Brazil contains sizeable basalt structures, plenty of which contain geodes of varied qualities. Brazil is by a large margin the largest exporter of amethyst geodes by volume. Across the border in Uruguay, a much smaller area contains important deposits of a few of the world's absolute best colored amethyst geodes. Also close by, in eastern Bolivia, there are one or two mines that contain amethyst deposits that include cavities with huge crystals. It is unrealistic to extract these massive crystals in complete geodes owing to the massive amounts of rock concerned, but from time to time clusters or individual crystals extracted from those structures make their way to the USA.
So How Did Mankind Take the Geodes? Removing geodes is a well refined mining process. Though the process involves heavy equipment and explosives to reach geode making areas in the basalt, all the main work involves a hefty dose of manual work. The geodes are first exposed thru mining efforts. The basalt is removed revealing the form of a geode in the floor, wall or ceiling of the mine. The step after that is to examine the inside of the geode to determine if the crystals are of high enough worth to pay for the manual effort needed to take the geode. This is most frequently done by cutting an inconspicuous hole in the geode and inserting a small light and viewing gadget. That looks like a flexible periscope.
If the crystal is an ordinary color like milky white quartz, the geode will be bypassed and frequently demolished in successive mining efforts. If the crystal is amethyst of a good color, then the geode will be by hand chipped out of the basalt a little at a time. This process can need days of work for a single geode. Once the geode has been removed from the base basalt, it is then carried to a workshop some distance from the mine. This typically involves using a wheel barrow to manually remove it from the mine itself, and then a wagon, narrow gauge rail vehicle, or truck to carry the piece to the workshop.
At the workshop any remaining basalt is removed and the geode is cut open to display the crystals. Frequently geodes are of a broadly columnar shape. These will be cut vertically along the longest part of the geode. These pieces are then prepared as a form known commonly as a cathedral. The geode at this initial stage has an external layer that contains many pointed bumps of the base level of the quartz. These are dangerous to both the workers and to the final customer. To circumvent the attendant danger of cuts, the geode is covered in a thin layer of cement to cover the sharp points. The cement is then ordinarily painted with a flat black color to enhance the aesthetics of the purple amethyst crystals. If the piece is to be displayed as a cathedral there will generally also be a little fill of cement at the base of the piece to form a level structure on which to stand the piece. Any remaining sharp quartz points along the entrance to the geode are then polished to a smooth surface for both appearance and safety reasons.
Infrequently, the crystals will be of such top quality the geodes will be displayed on steel stands. This is often true with geodes from Uruguay, which is internationally famous for the extraordinarily rich deep color of its amethyst.
How Do the Geodes Get Delivered? Geodes are heavy. A single cathedral that stands 40 inches or so tall, will typically weigh over a hundred pounds. They are also exposed to breakage. Remember the geode is a comparatively thin exterior of quartz with an enormous empty space within. This structure makes the geode vulnerable to breaking, especially when exposed to the shipping process... Which often feels like it attracts all of the world's 800 pound gorillas.
To defend the geodes, they are individually packed inside wooden crates. Crating costs are relatively cheap in Brazil where hundreds are made for a single shipment to the States. These crates are built for a single use and shipped strapped together to combine the strength of all of the crates. In the United States, crating costs of $200-300 for a 40 inch geode. It is quite common for a galley to have a made to order crate for a single geode to the final client. This does not include the cost of shipping the piece, which varies a lot based primarily on distance and the delivery type on the receiving end where home costs more than commercial, and white glove delivery inside of the office or home costs more than curbside delivery in your drive.
How To Choose the Best Amethyst? The short type of this is based solely on superbly good looks! High quality amethyst makes for extremely interesting jewellery pieces, little examples and tiny to large geodes that are OK for use as exquisite accents in your home or office decor. The dramatic good looks make a choice for only particularly high quality amethyst a great choice. Brazilian geodes of the highest qualities, have great color and very little ordinary coloured quartz in their bases. These geodes are good choices if you'd like to add a dramatic piece to your decor. Very high quality Uruguayan geodes make more dramatic decisions when they can be sourced. These are often shown on polished steel stands. Uruguayan amethyst has some of the best color of any amethyst found on earth.
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We invite you to view our present offerings in our Touchstone Galleries in Santa Fe, Scottsdale, Sedona and Taos, or online at touchstone-gallery.net Sedona location is presently supplying a surprising Uruguayan amethyst geode for sale.. This geode weighs in at over 1,400 pounds and is a deep, rich purple. Touchstone also offers an array of amethyst cathedrals and amethyst jewelry for sale at its locations in New Mexico and Arizona.
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