Mineral Mondays #37 Mexican Crazy Lace Agate
There are a LOT of different agates out there, but nothing catches the eye like the Lace agates. They are the agates that have waves and swirls in them that create stunning patterns. Recently I've picked up some amazing material so this will be the first of two Lace agate Mineral Mondays.
Mexican Crazy Lace Agate
Like it's name, Mexican Crazy Lace is crazy and comes from Mexico, specifically Chihuahua, Mexico. Agate is made up of cryptocrystalline silica, crystals that are so tiny they are even difficult to see under microscopes. The most common cryptocrystalline silica is chalcedony which makes up Crazy Lace.
Crazy Lace is formed by many layers of chalcedony deposited over long periods of time. Water containing silica seeps through rocks to fill voids and leave behind layer upon layer of chalcedony. As the layers build up they form the colored bands you see. Sometimes the voids don't completely fill and will instead form larger crystals that grow into the rest of the open void, like geodes.
Crazy Lace is unique to Mexico due to its wild banding and colors, reds, pinks, whites, and more. It's a typical hard agate coming in at around 7 on the Mohs scale. If you can find the material it will run you between $5 - $10 a pound.
That's it. Sorry this is short, it's late and I am falling asleep.
I referenced the Wikipedia page on Agate for this post. All images are my own.
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What an amazing rock! It certainly doesn't have to be a long post to be amazing! I love all of the detail in that rock. The banding seems similar to the Lake Superior agates, but the color is very different from those that I find. Beautiful rock! Thank you for sharing it!!
@nat-expressions yes, I just saw your Lake Superior post. You have an endless amount of wonderful agates up there! The banding is similar, just different colors.
The Mexican Crazy Lace is famous for being eye-popping. I forgot to add a piece my wife picked out that was pretty amazing.
Thanks for stopping by!
I love your wife's piece too. The banding and colors are very pretty!! Looking forward to more of your posts. :)
That is a beautiful crazy lace rock.
Thanks, @jacey.boldart. It is actually 3 different pieces, but ya, pretty amazing material. Check out the piece I just posted above.