This ‘deep pit’ blue agate from The Carver is reminiscent of the famous ‘Balmorhea Blue’ agate named for Balmorhea, Texas.
Balmorhea is a west Texas town located approximately 60 miles north of Alpine, Texas, where The Carver is located. Interestingly, Balmorhea, in addition to being famous for its blue agate, is also known as the ‘Venice of Texas’. Located in a near desert environment, a huge spring pours out of the ground and feeds a large swimming pool (which is a part of a state park), Balmorhea Lake, and provides water for canals (which run through the center of town).
Balmorhea Blue agate is extremely rare as supplies of it have long ago been almost exhausted. The ‘Carver blue’ agate appears in many of the ‘deep pit’ nodules/agates, some of which have weighed more than 15 pounds. This is yet another odd but diverse part of The Carver agate field.
Hey John,
Well I never thought that Balmorhea Blue was very great and I have seen trailer loads of it, however, every now and then somebody found something with interesting patterns instead of just plain blue. The photos of the nodules you posted here are very nicely banded and reminiscent of some material we find in the Terlingua area.
I will be down to your rockshop, Many Stones, to say hello after the first of the year. I would like to see some of the Terlingua blue that you referred to. From my experience, all of the blue grays-out when cut in thin slices. I think the blue color is a matter of the light reflected out of the stone rather than actual blue pigmentation within the quartz. I have noticed that most of the deep blue agates have a dark opaque rind, often black or dark brown, which I believe contributes greatly to the coloration. I believe that if this rind were ground off of a blue specimen, it would then be gray or colorless. Is this your experience? Does the Terlingua material actually have blue in the quartz? You are always welcome to visit…thanks for staying in touch……what did you think of the new ‘deep pit’ galleries just posted?