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Lot 170

Two Large Agate Slices with "Iris Agate" Chatoyancy

7 December 2016, 10:00 PST
Los Angeles

Sold for US$1,625 inc. premium

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Two Large Agate Slices with "Iris Agate" Chatoyancy

Brazil
Two cross-section slices cut from the same geode, having areas of quartz and other areas of banded agate, including a central area which displays the phenomenon of chatoyancy or cat's eye effect and also the feature known in the mineral hobby as "iris agate". When transmitted light strikes the agate from behind, it encounters the edges of the tiny bands. These bands disrupt the flow of light, and the rays of light take many separate paths through the thin bands of the agate. The bands act as a natural diffraction grating that diffracts the light and produces a display of spectral colors. Slices must be cut thin enough for this spectral phenonmenon to be seen. Overall these are particularly large slices for this species. Each slab measuring approximately 15 x 12 in

Footnotes

Each offered on a custom-fitted wooden stand.

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