I happened upon this rather extravagant piece on the 1st of December 2023. A raw day, as my mother would say, and a bright one. To my eyes initially I thought it mostly resembled red sandstone, both in tone and texture. Later I could see this odd, gnarled outer surface was worn into the inner patterning of the jasp-agate within. Fortifications would show in good light, and there was a smoother portion of the piece where they were even clearer. That said, when I cut it the following February, I was gobsmacked, and indeed such was my excitement that I immediately began to grind and polish it, outdoors on a cold, damp and windy winter afternoon, having no sheltered place suitable to do so, and having never used the particular flat lap I had previously bought for this purpose before.

 

Jasp agates then, what's the consensus? Well, my understanding is that they are generally opaque, and generally consistent with your average Jasper. So, the agate portion will be infill surrounding the blocky or sediment-style layering of jasper. Usually pale blue and crudely banded, occasionally brightly coloured and intricately lamellated. Very very rarely the agate portion might be whorled in persuasion, together with bright and detailed fortifications, or the fortified agate might be of no distinction, being infill around the aforementioned whorls. On occasion the agate and jasper might seem to have achieved more of a synthesis of their more commonly encountered textures. This is true of the piece above. Jasp-agate merely describes chalcedony showing many impurities, and of a banded nature. Both agate and jasper being forms of chalcedony, along with chert, flint, opal, bloodstone and others. Indeed, often the "jasper" portion of material encountered in this location might more properly be described as "moss", it more resembling the "mossy" tendrils observed in so-called "moss agate". That said, it is also true to say that under magnification, the "jasp" and "moss" constituents may appear interchangeable and analysis may be the only way to determine what minerals or other materials might be involved. 

 

Furthermore, it is my experience that all forms of agate are to be encountered with myriad forms of "jasper" within a specimen of so-called "jasp-agate",but what constitutes the "jasper" material is unclear in many cases. Its a catch-all term for chalcedony full of inclusions of other minerals, or materials that may or may not be associated. It may be altered sedimentary rock (jasperized and/or agatized) It may be a great jumble of silicified materials and equate to what is commonly known as "brecciated" or "ruin material". It would be very difficult in many cases to define what these jumbled and altered pieces were initially, and what they truly are now. As already stated, analysis would be necessary, and analysis might often be impossible. Jasp-agate then, covers a huge amount of material, much of it rarely seen, and much of it without any real definition. Without pigeonhole. Indefinable. Geologists will often have opinions, and these opinions in my experience will be disparate from person to person. 

 

A friendly geologist, with whom I am happily acquainted is Chris Harlow, and he had this to say regarding the above piece:

 

"Angus Coast, approx 130mm (JL Angus 04)

 

‘Angus Wonder Agate’

 

Another Jan Lakowski agate from the Angus coast, big too at 130mm or about 5”. As with the last, ‘orbicular jasper’ piece, this one is difficult to recognise from the outside, but when cut reveals a colourful and complex interior.

 

I like to think of it as ‘Angus Wonder Agate’, as in “I wonder what it is”, “I wonder how it formed” and “I wonder how it got here”. As to what it is, I think you would have to call it a jasp-agate. It certainly has elements that are jasper like and portions that are undoubtedly agate. How did it form? I am really uncertain, although my mind is tending towards a scenario where siliceous fluids are available but are not constrained by a first chalcedony layer, leading to more rapid and more chaotic deposition. Banded agate formation then only takes place when the ‘agate’ is mostly formed and the remaining spaces are small and isolated, leading to restricted silica input and more conventional fortification style banding.

 

And how did it get here? Well, I know of no such material in the exposed Old Red Sandstone Volcanics on the mainland. I suspect it is a water worn pebble washed out of volcanic material long since eroded and gone. The pebble became enclosed within sand to become part of the Old Red Sandstone conglomerates of the Angus coast."

 

Chris's input is highly appreciated, and his opinion here is one I would very much like to believe is accurate. I particularly like to think that this rather wild and ornate specimen originated in a place lost and unseen. However, as is the case with many such pieces, it is not possible to be entirely sure. Do I think it came from the Angus Old Red Sandstone Conglomerates? If it did, it is an anomaly, but of course the ORS conglomerates are often, however much in isolation, an assortment of such anomalies, though none of the material I have seen that have at least a secondary origin in that material, resemble the above piece. 

 

So, in my opinion, I think this piece came from a place long since lost and unseen, and that very well may be from the ORS conglomerates.

 

 

Although, that only begs the question....it ended up swallowed in very ancient sand, but in which lost and unseen place did it form, and did it fall directly into that sand from there, or did it travel along rivers or via longshore drift to become a minute sweet ingredient of red Angus?

 

Material from the area at which the above piece originates is, in my own personal experience, enormously varied and of the highest quality that I'm aware of in Scotland. Yes, I think that these are the best so-called "jasp-agates" that Scotland has to offer, and one aim with the continuation of this website (as of writing in late August of 2024) is to attempt to illustrate the beauty and variety of the finest Scottish examples of this material. Some may describe these pieces as jasper, as chert, as microcrystalline jasper, or granular chalcedony, or use many other terms besides. I am well-aware that describing them in geologically acceptable and appropriate terms is beyond my ken, so I'm just going to show you how they appear and let you decide for yourself as to what you think they are, if you even care, and you can make your own mind up too as regards the validity of their particular beauty.