7.8" Amethyst & Agate Slab With Metal Stand - Artigas, Uruguay

This is a gorgeous slab with amethyst and agate from the famed mines near Artiagas, Uruguay. The specimen is accompanied by a removable custom metal stand.

While Brazil is a much more prolific producer of amethyst, the amethyst mined near Artigas, Uruguay tends to be much darker with higher quality crystals. We import our material directly from the mines in Uruguay, allowing us to offer it at better retail prices than anyone else. We carry a large variety of geodes, amethyst clusters, and collector quality crystal formations.

Amethyst being mined in Uruguay from the hard volcanic rock.
Amethyst being mined in Uruguay from the hard volcanic rock.


Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz (SiO2) that owes its violet color to natural irradiation, iron impurities, and the presence of trace elements, resulting in complex crystal lattice substitutions. It is considered a semi-precious gemstone, and just two centuries ago was considered to have a value on par with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. The largest and best known amethyst deposits occur in southern Brazil and Uruguay, but many localities around the world produce an amazing variety of amethyst crystals and formations.


Agate is a variety of microcrystalline quartz (chalcedony) that displays translucence and, in some cases, banding. Agate primarily forms when silica-rich fluids fill pockets within rocks and/or fossils, depositing the silica along the walls of the rock. This process can result in banding patterns, as the compositions and impurities of these depositing fluids change over time. These banding patterns can either form as flat layers, creating linear patterns known as waterline agate, or as rounded layers, forming more common ring-like patterns. These patterns depend on the surfaces available for deposition.
SOLD
DETAILS
SPECIES
Quartz var. Amethyst
LOCATION
Artigas, Uruguay
SIZE
7.8" tall (without stand), 10.2" on stand, about .4" thick
ITEM
#153475