Description

Imperial Jasper is considered to be one of the five fine jaspers. (The other fine jaspers are Bruneau jasper, Morrisonite, Willow Creek jasper and Blue Mountain jasper). Imperial Jasper is found about 50 miles northwest of Guadalajara, Mexico on the east side of a steep canyon. This canyon lies north of the small town of San Cristobal and its steep slopes are covered with dense vegetation. The jasper-bearing area is very large, almost 6 km long with many individual deposits, each with its own characteristics. Pink Imperial, Brown Imperial, Green Imperial, Spiderweb Imperial, Select Imperial, and Royal Imperial are all names associated with these various jasper deposits.

Jasper, or spotted stone, is an opaque, impure variety of Quartz that is usually red, yellow or brown in color.  Some Jaspers simultaneously exhibit several variants such as banding, flow patterns, dendrites or color variations.  This results in what appears to be scenes or images in a cut section of the Jasper.