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Recently, a long-known amethyst locality has changed ownership and has been aggressively mined for beautiful amethyst matrix specimens. The property, located near Jackson's Crossroads in Wilkes County, Georgia, was purchased by Rodney Moore. Mr. Moore has brought in heavy equipment to open up and expose sections of a vuggy granite-like countryrock containing drusy-quartz-lined veins. Often these veins provide cavities where large, gemmy, amethyst crystals had room to grow with great perfection. Although not inexpensive as a fee-dig, many exceptionally beautiful amethyst specimens are being found. If you would like to take a shot at finding a specimen like that shown above, check out Mr. Moore's web site. The finest, Smithsonian-quality specimens, are being distributed by Terry Ledford. I collected the specimen shown above in the Spring of 2005. This piece contains a small vug lined with a maze of tiny, clear, quartz crystals. Perched in the vug is a larger, triplet of amethyst crystals. The crystals are a light purple of fine clarity. This specimen is pristine, undamaged, unrepaired; just as it came from the earth (after hours of careful washing to remove a glue-like Georgia clay that lined the cavity). This specimen weighs approximately 7 lbs. (#M423, $35.00)
Click here to see a short video of this specimen.
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