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We didn’t just start out as rockhounds knowing about how to test minerals for hardness or specific gravity You can support me as a writer and rockhound by donating to www.buymeacoffee.com/katrionawrites. Every penny helps me produce more articles like this one, to help other UK rockhounds find their feet

We all have to start somewhere with rock identification as baby rockhounds, but identifying minerals Can you Rock Hunt for Aventurine in Scotland? would like to say no to this, but we have actually found two separate pieces of green aventurine in Scotland

All smoky quartz from Scotland that we sell has a known hardness of 7.

We buy minerals second hand from other collectors, we go out into Scotland and we find them ourselves , and we create Rockhounding content so that you can see for yourself how the crystals we sell are found You can also read about the meaning of agate already, or learn about Hagstones freshly picked from Scotland

Other rockhounds providing us with amethyst are from Dumfries & Galloway, Fife, Ayrshire, and the north of Scotland. Mineral and crystal hunting in Scotland has a long history going back to crofter times. Although we have limited quantities of amethyst here in Scotland, you can get it from Brazil, China,

The Stone Circle buys and sells preloved and second-hand crystals, rocks, and minerals. Unfortunately, we cannot buy every crystal collection that we come across. If you are looking to sell your crystal collection online, read this first! A Flower Agate Tower we recently bought up on eBay Here at The Stone Circle, we have recently taken a step back to look at how we can improve the ethics of crystal collecting. We know that the best pieces are mined, and we know that mining takes a huge toll on the environment, and as rock hunters we know that even hunting crystals in the UK in areas local to us takes an environmental toll. It is our aim to keep that toll as low as possible. We Buy and Sell Preloved Crystal Collections Recently, we decided to expand into the purchasing and reselling of unwanted crystal collections. Do you ever wonder what happens to all the rocks that people collect? Rather than being put in a suitcase and forgotten about, we would love those old crystal collections to end up here. We will rehome them and they will find love in the end. How We Work Out Preloved Crystal RRPs Since preloved crystals come to us second hand, we check the RRP against the first few pages of Google shopping. If we don’t believe what we see (because the price is too high) we check Etsy, then eBay. We take the average cost across the different marketplaces to be the actual RRP. After we have a Recommended Retail Price, we can work out what the resale value is for the crystal as a second hand, pre-loved mineral. We promise to keep the prices on the cheapest side possible. After all, do we own the rocks or do the rocks own us? Would The Stone Circle Buy Your Old Crystals? We might. Here is what we are looking for – in fact, it is easier to tell you what we do not want, instead. We are open to any and all offers of minerals, be they donations or offered for sale. However, we do not want  to buy the following: Fake minerals – if it is glass, we won’t buy it. Lab grown is acceptable, but we need to know. Dyed minerals – especially dyed agates or geodes. If it is neon, then it is fake. Anything ‘Aura’ – aura quartz and rainbow crystals have been coated with a mix of other minerals. We do not want to encourage this market in any way, shape or form. We see these as vandalism… like spray painting over a DaVinci or scrubbing a Banksy off a wall… Heat treated agates or heat treated “citrine” (amethyst). If you have a few of the above but have an otherwise natural crystal collection, then we won’t mind. If your crystal collection is mostly dyed or rainbow aura coated, then we won’t buy it. It’s not that we are judging your taste but more that our customers expect rough rocks and natural crystals when they shop with us. Also, we haven’t perfected a formula for removing the dye from agates yet. We stopped experimenting just shy of trying bleach. What is Your Crystal Collection Worth? This is a tricky question. If you want to sell it all at once, you will make less money. Selling items individually on the website is how we make a small profit (we hope!) If you trust us, we will make a fair offer that makes everyone happy – especially the people who get new rocks! When selling your crystal collection, you might do better selling all of your towers or spheres at once and selling your tumble stones separately. Tumbles are worth less than other minerals. Prices fluctuate based on what is popular at that time on the market. The best way to find out how much your crystal collection might be worth is to ask. Drop us an email at thestonecircleshop@gmail.com with some photos and we will make an offer if we can. We are not rich so please don’t approach us with meteorites. Where to Buy Cheap Crystals Second Hand? You can rehome crystals, rocks, and minerals through the Stone Circle’s preloved crystals program. Donate or sell your old crystal collection and pick up new (old) crystals second hand at www.thestonecircle.co.uk .

Taking up rockhounding isn’t the hobby for everyone. In Scotland the main one is in Edinburgh. It is the Scottish Mineral and Lapidary Club.

Scottish tumbled stones from the Stone Circle  to help pay for articles like this one, which help other rockhounds

We started tumbling in the 2020/21 season of rockhounding, so we have a few years under our belts now

The lowlands contain the best chances of finding a Hagstone in Scotland. Seer Stones, Holy Stones, and a hundred other names, our hagstones are picked by us from Ayrshire, Scotland

This series will look at famous mineral locations in Scotland. By now, our visitors know that Scotland has some gorgeous scenery and even prettier rocks. Wherever you get these old lava beds in Scotland, you have a chance of finding jasper, quartz, and plain Queen Victoria was the royal who first popularised pebble jewellery from Scotland, with a particular She visited Scotland often to indulge herself in a little rock hunt of her own here and there.

Lucky for you, crystals, rocks, and minerals from Scotland are at your fingertips. Shop now for epic finds from across Scotland. Remember – Stone Circle Crystals, Rocks, and Minerals found in Scotland are one-of-a-kind.