Brazilian Agates

There are at least 15 major Brazilian Agate-producing areas in the country of Brazil. 12 of these are located in the 5 most southeastern states of the country, Rio Grande do Sul, immediately north of Uruguay, being the best known. Other areas include Santa Catarina, Paraná, Sao Paolo, and Minas Gerais. Two other areas are in the state of Bahia in east central Brazil and another located in the state of Roraima in the extreme northwest. Polyhedroid Agates come exclusively from Paraiba.

Agates were discovered in the late 1920's by a geologist named B.V. Freyburg with the Geological Survey of Argentina. Current laws in Brazil prohibit the export of unfinished agate

The agates from Brazil are mostly mined from decomposed volcanic ash and basalt from the late Permian age (248-275 million years ago) In Rio Grande do Sul the "agate mines" are normally just plowed fields in which loose agates are found and collected. Brazilian agates are very colorful stones with some of the most beautiful inclusion and structures imaginable. Agate is very hard and takes an excellent polish.

Sadly, most of the Brazilian Agates you find for sale today are the "dyed" versions of these stones. When you see a pink, teal, purple or green agate it is dyed not natural. We may occassionally have a few dyed bookend sets, but prefer to deal only in natural agates. We purchase some cut agates from Brazil, ones with the bottoms cut flat for display or cathedrals (man made cement type coatings).

We still have in stock some old stock whole Brazilian Agates that have not been cut yet. Cut agates fall into two categories. If the agate is solid on the cut surface, it is called an Agate Nodule. If the agate has a hollow center vug (which may have an interesting variety of designs, crystals and minerals) the piece is then called an Agate Geode.

We have divided up the types of Brazilian Agates into individual pages to make it easier to find exactly what type of Agate you are looking for.