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So this is the largest agate of any note I've as yet collected. Yes, perhaps a little more than a third of the face is made up of calcite crystals, but there is some devilishly intricate detail in the remainder. Fine tubes and other inclusions, knots of agate surrounding some of the calcite crystals. The visceral reds a perhaps a product of the infiltration of iron-rich muds and clays during formation. A veritable gory feast. I have collected larger pieces, as yet uncut. Balmerino moss agates do occasionally reach sizes of over 20cm in length, and I have collected geodes of over 16cm in diameter, though none so far have been worth documenting. We will see. This then, is an Angus Coast "Macabre", monstrous in both size and in appearance. I intend to polish it, though I do not own a flat lap of suitable circumference, so it will be achieved via grits and a pane of glass. I feel it certainly merits the attention. It is nearly always true to remark that the majority of Scottish agates of the best quality, will be diminutive in size. It is rare that their more expansive brethren are equal of interest. I will do my best to make the most of these exceptions to that rule, such as they are.
Sadly, this piece didn’t make it. Naively, I had begun sanding it flat on a glass tile with grits. Of course, the calcite sections quickly became very coarse, and some sections of what I had thought were chalcedony, turned out to be mixed with calcite, so again were marred. This left only tiny sections of agate amongst very unappealing sections of calcite. In hindsight, I could have used Hxtal or similar to give a polishable clear coating to the calcite sections, which may have produced a more aesthetically pleasing result. However, to get there now I'd have to recut this piece.
Right now, that isn't going to happen.