Chihuahua crazy lace, fine grey Botswana banding and Brazilian fortification agate, slabbed on a diamond blade and ground symmetrical.
Buy Banded Agate Hearts Priced by Band Pattern, Gram Weight and Polish
An agate heart is a piece of banded chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline silicon dioxide laid down in rhythmic layers inside a gas cavity in basalt, which a cutter saws from a slab and grinds into two mirrored lobes meeting at a cleft and a tip. Buy one here and the band pattern rather than the silhouette is what you are selecting, because every heart comes from a different position inside its nodule. Astro Gallery of Gems slabs, grades and photographs each of the 1 agate hearts on this page against its own weight and banding.
Nodule to Cleft: Where the Banding Lands on a Symmetrical Cut
Agate grows inward from the wall of a cavity, so a sawn nodule shows concentric bands tightening toward a centre of drusy quartz or an empty pocket. A cutter scribing a heart template onto that slab settles in one movement whether the bands arrive as a chevron aimed at the tip, as closed rings inside a single lobe, or as diagonals crossing the cleft. Astro Gallery grades hearts on that placement before size, because two hearts of identical weight from one nodule read as different objects once the pattern is positioned.
Chihuahua, Bobonong and Rio Grande do Sul: The Agates Cut Into Hearts
Origin governs how tight the banding runs and how closely two hearts match. Astro Gallery buys rough at the slab and nodule stage from four sources that behave differently on a heart template.
Crazy lace agate, ChihuahuaMexican chalcedony from the Sierra Santa Lucia district near Villa Ahumada, folded into contorted yellow, cream and scarlet lacework rather than parallel bands. At Mohs 6.5 to 7 it takes a hard mirror polish, and because the lacework never repeats, buyers choose these hearts from the photograph.
Botswana agate, BobonongGrey, lavender and salmon banding from the Bobonong district, laid down in unusually fine and even layers with occasional drusy centres. That evenness makes Botswana material the easiest agate to cut as a close pair, since adjacent slabs share their line spacing.
Fortification agate, Rio Grande do SulBrazilian nodules weathered out of Parana basalt around Salto do Jacui, banded in broad white, grey and honey layers with angular fortification corners. The wide bands suit larger hearts, and most dyed blue and magenta agate on the wider market begins as this same colourless rough.
Blue lace agate, YsterputsPale blue and white banded chalcedony from the Ysterputs farm in southern Namibia, the only significant deposit of the material anywhere. Supply is finite rather than seasonal, so blue lace hearts carry the highest price per gram here and arrive in small parcels.
Gram Weight to Palm Size: Shop the Hearts by Tier
Weight decides almost everything else about an agate heart, including how thick the slab had to be and whether the piece works in a pocket or on a mantel. Four tiers cover the range Astro Gallery cuts.
| Tier | Measurements and the buyer it suits |
|---|
| Pocket heart, 15 to 40 grams | Roughly one inch across the lobes and cut from thin slab, so the banding reads as two or three lines only. Buyers send these inside a card or add one to a larger order. |
| Palm heart, 90 to 150 grams | About two and a half inches wide by two tall and an inch thick, the tier the Mexican crazy lace hearts occupy. That weight sits properly in a closed hand, which is why it carries the repeat purchasing. |
| Mantel heart, 1 to 3 pounds | Cut from thick slab or a whole half nodule, so the full sweep of fortification banding survives on the face. Interior buyers choose this tier for a console or a tray arrangement. |
| Matched pair, any tier | Two hearts sawn from slabs that sat beside each other in the nodule, so the banding on one continues on the other. Botswana and blue lace pair most convincingly, and both sell as one purchase. |
Live Prices: What Each Agate Heart Costs to Buy
Every row below is one catalogued object with its own price on the listing, updated straight from stock. A heart that sells leaves the table instead of lingering as an entry you cannot add to the cart.
Ask to see the actual heart before you payCrazy lace listings note that a similar piece will be sent, so Astro Gallery photographs the heart in the drawer on request and holds it for you.
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One Heart or a Mirrored Pair: What a Single Nodule Yields
Two purchase paths run through this collection, and they behave differently on price, availability and how long the right piece takes to appear.
The single heartOne slab, one pattern, one of one. A buyer choosing a single heart is selecting a specific arrangement of bands, so the photograph carries more weight than the gram figure does. Stock in any given lace pattern is shallow, and a heart with centred rings leaves within days of being catalogued.
The mirrored pairTwo hearts cut from adjacent slabs so their banding continues across the gap between them. Pairs suit an anniversary, a wedding table or a symmetrical shelf, and they cost more per gram because the cutter sacrifices offcuts that would otherwise become singles.
Dye, Cleft and Polish: Four Checks Before You Order
Four faults account for almost every disappointing agate heart on the wider market, and each is visible in a good photograph.
Dye at the porous bandsDyed agate takes colour unevenly, loading the chalky layers and leaving dense bands pale, and it pools along any crack. Study the cleft notch and the girdle on a blue or magenta heart, because natural colour carries through a chip while dye stops at the surface.
Cleft and lobe symmetryFold the outline in half down the axis from cleft to tip and the two lobes should sit on top of each other. Freehand grinding drifts, producing one heavy lobe and a notch that wanders off centre, the commonest shortcut on inexpensive hearts.
Polish across the girdleThe curved outer edge is where a rushed finish shows first. A cerium oxide polish returns a reflected line unbroken around the girdle, while a heart taken off the wheel early goes matt where the face rolls into the edge.
Vugs, flat backs and fillsA drusy pocket breaking through the polished face is a natural feature, and Astro Gallery states it in the description rather than hiding it behind a flattering angle. The back should sit flat without rocking and without resin fill in the low spots.
The Vocabulary an Agate Heart Listing Uses
ChalcedonyThe cryptocrystalline form of quartz that all agate belongs to, built from silica fibres too fine to see, which is why agate breaks with a smooth conchoidal fracture.
Fortification bandingConcentric bands that turn sharp angles as they follow the outline of the original cavity, producing the ramparts pattern that names Brazilian and Mexican agate in the trade.
CleftThe notch cut between the two lobes at the top of the heart, and the point that exposes an asymmetrical grind faster than anywhere else on the piece.
GirdleThe curved outer edge running from lobe to tip. A finished girdle is polished to the same depth as the face rather than left at the grinding stage.
DrusyA crust of tiny quartz crystals lining the hollow centre of a nodule. When a slab crosses that centre, the finished heart carries a sparkling pocket instead of solid banding.
Puff heartA heart domed on both faces rather than flat on the back, which costs extra slab thickness and shows the banding curving over the shoulder of the piece.
Trays, Bedsides and Anniversaries: Where a Banded Heart Lands
Interior buyers treat an agate heart as a small dense punctuation mark rather than a focal point, grouping two or three weights in a shallow brass tray, or leaving a palm heart where lamplight rakes along the bands. Gift buyers reach the same objects through occasions: a pocket heart for a card, a palm heart for a birthday or a first anniversary, a mirrored pair for a wedding.
Metaphysical buyers use a separate vocabulary for the identical object, calling it a heart chakra stone, a worry stone or a palm stone, and choosing crazy lace for what the trade describes as mental agility. Astro Gallery documents species, locality, weight and treatment on every listing and makes no health, healing or energetic claim about the agate it sells. Naming the words buyers search costs nothing, while overstating what a banded stone does would cost the accuracy the listing depends on.
Keeping Chalcedony Bright
At Mohs 6.5 to 7 agate outranks household dust and steel, so a heart survives daily handling, though it will scratch another heart if two sit touching in one drawer. Wash with lukewarm water and a drop of unperfumed soap, dry immediately with a soft cloth, and keep the piece out of ultrasonic cleaners, which drive vibration into any drusy pocket or hairline seam. Dyed agate fades in direct sunlight across months, so a south facing windowsill is the position worth avoiding.
Checkout to Doorstep: How a Heart Is Packed and Insured
The figure on the listing is the figure charged, and checkout settles through Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or a Visa, Mastercard, Discover or Diners Club card. Before committing, ask the gallery for the exact width across the lobes in inches, a photograph of the back and girdle, or a clip of the banding under a moving lamp. Every order carries an itemised invoice naming the species, the locality and the weight of the piece bought.
Astro Gallery of Gems has packed cut stone for transit since 1961. We wrap each heart individually so no two polished faces touch, block the tip in cut foam because that point takes the impact in a dropped carton, and double box anything above a pound. Parcels leave tracked and fully insured with customs paperwork completed before dispatch. Our returns policy and the guarantee on about us cover the piece from the moment it leaves the gallery.
Rated everywhere we trade
Shortlist two hearts and compare the bandingSend two listing links and our team photographs both pieces side by side under one lamp, so the pattern decides the purchase.
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Before You Buy: The Questions Asked Most
How much does an agate heart cost to buy?
Pocket hearts at gram weights open the range, palm hearts in Mexican crazy lace occupy the middle, and mantel weights and blue lace pairs sit at the top. The table above carries live prices for everything in stock, and each figure belongs to one heart rather than to an average.
Is the heart in the photograph the one I receive?
Not always, and the listing says so. Crazy lace listings note that a stock photograph is shown and a similar piece will be sent, so ask us to photograph the heart in the drawer and we will hold that exact piece for your order.
Is this agate dyed?
The Mexican crazy lace, Botswana and Brazilian fortification hearts are natural colour, and any treatment is named in the description. Dye loads the porous layers unevenly and pools along cracks, so look at the cleft notch and the girdle in the photographs, where natural colour runs straight through the band.
What size agate heart should I buy as a gift?
Choose the 90 to 150 gram palm tier, which measures roughly two and a half inches across and sits properly in a closed hand. Pocket hearts under 40 grams suit a card or a stocking, while anything above a pound becomes a shelf object rather than something to hold.
Can I order two matching agate hearts?
Yes, when adjacent slabs are still available from the same nodule. Email the gallery with the tier you want and we will pull matching candidates from Botswana or blue lace rough, photograph them together and quote the pair as a single purchase.
How do I clean an agate heart?
Wash it in lukewarm water with a drop of unperfumed soap and dry it at once with a soft cloth. Keep agate out of ultrasonic cleaners, since vibration travels into drusy pockets and hairline seams, and store hearts separately so one polished face never rubs another.
Will you ship an agate heart overseas?
Yes. Every parcel travels tracked and fully insured with customs paperwork prepared before dispatch and a declared value matching the invoice. Heavier mantel pieces are quoted separately so you approve the cost before the order is confirmed.
Can I return an agate heart that arrives smaller than expected?
Yes, and our returns page carries the window and the condition a heart must come back in. Requesting the exact width across the lobes in inches beforehand settles the question for most buyers, because gram weights translate badly into how large a heart looks on a shelf.
Other Agate Cuts and Other Hearts to Browse
Buyers who arrive for the banding leave through the agate catalogue, while buyers who arrive for the shape follow hearts across every species the gallery carves.
