Quartzites

There are a lot of really stunning Quartzites on the market, but the problem is they are all outrageously expensive. Is it just a function of prettier stuff being marked up more?

You could make a minor case for that point of view. But, the primary reason is a function of time and materials. When cutting a block of Santa Cecelia or New Venetian Gold. The factories know it will take about 72 hours to cut it. [The only day the Brazilians take off is Christmas. Those saws run 24/7 for 364 days a year]. Put a block of quartzite in there and pack a lunch. 456 hours to cut the same sized block. Plus, it is really, really hard thus using more blade life.

So, they can cut 6+ blocks of Santa Cecelia, or 1 of a quartzite. That is why some of the prettier quartzites are 6 times more expensive than Santa Cecelia.

Something else unusual about quartzites. We got some Azul Macauba in a couple of years ago that had a strip of Santa Cecelia glued to the top side of the stone all the way across the top of the slab. About an inch and 1/2 tall by 9' long. When we were in Brazil, I asked Marcelo, the owner of the Vigui factory, why that was done. He replied that it was done to seat the sawblades into the soft Santa Cecelia before it hit the very hard Macauba. There can be some very serious problems if those blades get out of alignment. So, it was a clever solution to a potentially disasterous problem.