
42mm x 23mm
This is what I'd call a wild moss agate. In fact, that said, moss appears to be somewhat of a derogatory term in agate- collecting circles, so I'm going to rename her as I write. Let me think....
I don't merely collect agates anyway, I document them. I study them. I name them. Then, yes, often they go in the archive with the religious artifacts, alien relics, Elizabethan manuscripts and occult iconography.
I picked this piece up (for that is what it is, a water worn section of what was a larger stone, with no skin remaining) during an incoming tide. A vicious one at that. I don't recall seeing a similar agate anywhere, certainly not in Scotland, where along with Jasp-agates, and pseudomorphs, moss agates are poorly documented.
I'd call the colouration a mixture of grey blue chalcedony, and blood red inclusions. Tendrils. Root systems. The colour is in itself, very rare. You can tell me something's red, but 9 times out of ten, I'm going to disagree, and reply that no, I think that is a shade of orange. This is red. Scarlet perhaps. Maybe more likely crimson.
There are what appear to be small pockets of smoky quartz in this stone as well, clear quartz can be seen throughout. It's rapidly become one of my favourite Kinneff pieces, and I have nothing of a similar finesse as regards mossy agates from the area.
So, about that name, what shall we call it? Viscera agate perhaps? Arterial agate? Capillary agate? It certainly reminds one of a section of flesh that was recently living. A geological organ in vivid vivisection.
Wildblood's Nightwounds.
Or, more aptly perhaps, it reminds me of how H.G Wells described the invasive, alien, red weed in his: "War of the Worlds"
It's animated, pulsing, vibrant and rhythmic. It's a blood red,arterial weed, and it's headed right for us.