• A shallow bowl-shaped geode with a thin crust in indirect sunlight. It is a dirty mix of orange spires and brown mineral with white spheres spotting the surface. The piece is larger than the hand holding it.
  • Angled view of cluster of spires with the colorless quartz rings around them. On the left side, there are a lot of fine orange needles mixed in among the spires.
  • Looking into the geode, the spires cover all sides and their strong orange color is muted by brown mineral overgrowth and white spheres coating the piece.
  • Another angle of the shallow geode, the pattern interrupted by a crack left of center and swirling orange and white agate growth.
  • Birds-eye view into the geode, looking down the spires. They are spotted with the white spheres and one has a tutu of mineral around it.
  • Side-view of the geode, showing the outside is a thin layer of brown rock. The far side is covered with spires poking out above the top, coated in the brown mineral.
  • View of the other side of the piece, covered with spires in orange with some coated in brown
  • The back of the mineral, showing a rough brown rock matrix with an oval gray rock embedded near the top. There are darker brown stripes across the specimen, showing the piece has been repaired and the repairs covered.
  • Close view looking down the spires, a saturated red-orange covered in white spheres and colorless quartz forming rings like tutus on some spires.
  • Detail of one side, with a crack up the center and dried white glue visible in that crack. The side is covered with orange spires and fine needles. The top rim and tops of some spires are covered in brown overgrowth.
  • The geode in full sunlight, with strong red-orange color and covered in bright white spheres. The brown mineral overgrowth appears bumpy and matte.
  • Detail of a side with a lot of orange needles and spires, with the crystals with ring-like quartz at center. Some of the white spheres appear opaque white with glittering surfaces, others are a translucent colorless, and others have a white core with a colorless layer over.
  • Detail of the largest tutu-growth at center, with good needle growth in the background. In the foreground it a broken spire with rings of color.
  • Detail of a broken spire on its side, with a ribbed texture none of the others have. It is alongside the largest crack, and glue is visible adjacent to it.
  • Detail of an edge of the geode, with fine needle-like growth in orange. Some of the needles are curved, and some have miniature scepter growth forms.
  • Another view of the needles on the edge, with unusual curving forms in areas. Taller spires stick out and are covered with white spheres.
  • Detail of an edge of the piece with white spheres and lumpy brown mineral on spires. In the foreground some spires are broken, revealing rings of orange, white, and a dark mineral or hollow.
  • The specimen on a measuring mat, measuring almost five inches long by four inches wide.
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Stalactitic chalcedony geode (repaired)

Stalactitic chalcedony geode (repaired)

$58.00 USD
$65.00 USD $58.00 USD
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Locale: Atlas Mountains, Morocco

Approx dimensions: 4.5 x 4 x 2"

Approx weight: 377g

**Repaired specimen

 

These unusual geodes from Morocco are like small caves lined with stalactites, botryoidal forms, and swirling agate patterns. While commonly called red chalcedony, I find the color is more orange to red-orange. Hematite causes this coloration, but later phases of growth (“second generation”) don’t contain hematite inclusions. This creates a colorless-to-white growth over the orange chalcedony, which can produce a soft orange-cream druzy coating, or bold Halloween patterns of orange and white stripey stalactites.

This is a beautiful, large piece with fantastic Halloween colors of orange, dark brown, and white. Larger spires are interspersed with fine points of orange chalcedony. Since chalcedony and quartz are closely related you often see them grow together. They have the same chemical composition (silica) but different crystal structure (cryptocrystalline vs. crystalline). Specimens including this one feature lovely snowy white spheres of radial growth quartz. Colorless quartz also coats some stalactites creating a tutu of growth.

Where stalactites have broken you can see a pinpoint of a dark, metallic, mineral at the core, surrounded by orange chalcedony, then translucent white chalcedony.

This specimen has been inexpertly repaired from at least five pieces. The pieces were not reset evenly so cracks may be offset or have wide gaps in places. Glue is visible in several spots when studied closely. This is actually the specimen I used to demonstrate how to identify a repaired mineral. It may be flawed, but it's still one of my favorites due to the exquisite details!

UV reactivity well, the glue glows.

** Brittle warning! This material has the tendency to be crumbly, shedding pieces when handled. Limit handling and do not place stress on repair joints.

Repaired: This specimen has been repaired, meaning it broke but someone recompiled and glued it back together. These Moroccan geodes are frequently recompiled and glued together—but this is infrequently disclosed :( Read more about how to detect repairs.

I don't know how often breaks occur due to rough techniques in mining or cracking the geodes open, but I suspect many of the breaks are natural based on how few intact pieces I have ever seen. I have observed many of these geodes have a fairly thin, brittle crust which may make them susceptible to fracturing as part of normal geological processes. I have also seen examples where it appeared iron staining had leaked through the breaks, indicating the cracks occurred well before the specimen was mined.

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