We picked this rock up away back in 2020 - maybe even 2019 before the world went crazy. It is one of Katriona's first large mineral specimens. Honestly, we had no idea what to do with it so it has been sitting in the Rock Room the whole time. Now that we have a large minerals section we can list it. If we had to send this abroad it would cost a small fortune.
 
Now to the stone. It came from Ayrshire somewhere south of Ayr. It is heavy as heck and broke my back to carry on top of everything else that day. Fox was there so it was early days of collecting. 
 
The rock itself is a cool one. From the top it looks white and grey with interesting clear to pink patches here and there. What you are actually seeing is a section of basalt which has broken away with an agate attached to it. The agate has had a large white quartz pocket, which has either smashed away in the river or has been completely worn down. So what you are seeing is the white remnants of this quartz pocket.
 
From the side you can see that there are layers of chalcedony underneath that quartz. It seems clear to pink although there are blue hues in there. Our saw is not large enough to cut it in half but it would be amazing to see what patterns are under there. 
 
This is a great example of an agate on basalt. Agatised rock is probably an inaccurate despcription but it gives you the visual picture.