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Brandberg Amethyst Crystal Slices -
photo gallery
Updated April 06, 2019
4:00 PM Eastern
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Click here for info on the Georgia Rock shop : The Mineral Gallery in Mcdonough, Georgia. Just South of Atlanta
On one of my trips to Namibia I was able to buy Brandberg amethyst crystal slices. This
was at one of the camps that didn't have electricity other than a generator.  They had cut
the crystal cross-sections using a generator and did a good job in cutting the slices but a
poor job in polishing them. I brought them home and polished them myself.
Below are many photos of Brandberg Amethyst Crystal
Slices.  These have interesting amethyst phantoms
and almost all of them have inclusions such as
nailhead hematite. The two below left has a tiny
enhydro bubble despite the fact that it is only 1/4" thick!
Click any photo to enlarge. Some will
enlarge 2x and will fill even the largest
monitor. Due to the file size it may be a
little slow to load.
Below is another nice amethyst
crystal slice. This one has an
excellent amethyst phantom as
well as nailhead hematite.
When this amethyst crystal was cut,
the blade cut through a void (cavity)
that contained liquid and a gas bubble
which is called an "enhydro bubble".  
You can see tiny slit-like cavities that
housed the enhydro bubble.
We have amethyst crystal slices for
sale!  Just use the drop-down menu for
my ebay link or click the store banner
below to go to my shop page if you
happen to be in the Atlanta area or
perhaps plan on passing through.
Above: a side view showing hematite
Below: a slice with a huge cavity. This
probably held a large enhydro bubble!
Note the amethyst AND smoky color.
Below shows a very thick slice. One
side shows an enhydro bubble and the
other side shows where many other
cavities were breached.
Immediately below is so-called "Harlequin Quartz" that has hematite streamers in it.  Some (most) people call this
"Lepido" or "Lepidochrosite" but that is wrong - it is hematite.
An extensive article in Rocks and Minerals about the Brandberg locality analyzed the quartz and found hematite but
no Lepidochrosite.
Ignorance is bliss, I guess, because people like to use the term "Lepido" as a selling point. That's patently false.
Below is more Brandberg Amethyst Crystal Slices with hematite streamers. Notice that enhydro cavities were cut into.  The cavities that hold enhydro bubbles, or
just liquid or perhaps even empty, are lined with crystal faces (sometimes they even mimic a complete crystal shape and are called "Negative Crystals").  When you
look at the slice faces the uncut side of the cavity, the cavity is usually mirror-like and are very shiny.  I've shown both sides to illustrate this. Also below is a photo
of a Negative Crystal inclusion and some uncut crystals..
Only damaged or broken crystals are
cut in slices .  Here is a flat of good
crystals as an example of what the
slices are cut out of.
I also took some broken/damaged
crystals and had them faceted. I
purposely selected rough that had nice
hematite streamer inclusions.
Here is what one of them looked like.
shown right side up and also upside
down.  You can see the inclusions
better when the stone is upside down.
As an aside, stones are purposely cut
in a way that maximizes color and also
hides inclusions!