New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

Among the worldwide localities for agate that are listed in most mineral books (Brazil, Mexico, United States), Scotland is rarely mentioned. Its agates, however, have some very unusual colors and banding that are found only in Scotland. Many of the agates, especially those collected along the beaches, are only pea size, but even in those small sizes are found superior colors and banding. Large agates are found in areas where no other mineralization is found. A superb exhibit of rough and cut Scottish agates can be found in the Royal Scottish Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. A paperback book published within the last 10 years by Harry MacPherson, former mineral curator at the RSM, beautifully details the collection and the mineral formation. My program highlights a number of both personally collected Scottish agates as well as those that were given to me by an estate. U.S. collectors can perhaps recognize in locally collected (New Mexico) agates the same forming features.

Credit for mentioning the Scottish agate book is given to Pete Modreski who mentioned it to me last year at the symposium. Thanks to Alan & Margaret Houghton of Bedale, N. YORK who introduced me to Scottish agate collecting and to Mrs. Ivy Stevens of Glasgow, Scotland who gave me agates from her late husband's collection.