Amethyst with 8 agate eyes in superb quality on black metal stand

A broad, transverse amethyst geode with eight distinct agate eyes along the inner rim, presented on a black metal stand.

Agate eyes are concentric bands of chalcedony that sit on the geode walls like painted eye images. Eight eyes in a single geode is an unusually high number; typically, one to three per piece is common.

They form when a layer of silica-containing solutions is deposited in pulses onto the geode wall before the amethyst growth begins. Only after this does the actual amethyst growth start to grow inwards.

The color of the eyes varies from reddish-orange tones to light blue-gray bands, indicating changing trace elements during the chalcedony phases.

Amethyst belongs to the quartz family. The deep violet color of the tips is caused by iron trace elements in the crystal lattice under natural irradiation.

A collector's item of the highest class with didactic value: the eight eyes allow for a direct comparison of the zonal mineralization phases in a single piece.