AGATE ~ Everything

[CzechWoods]

Starting a thread about agates. not this or that agate, but all agates. will also fill in agate infos, but I would like you to do the same.

post pictures of agates that you like. dyed or natural

or locations where you rock-hunted some ?

display your museum-pieces, or the lovies of yours. post anything you like about agates.

I will post loads of pics anyway, so come on dont be shy

agates are beauty and need to be shown in here

[Wolfsong]

Whenever I think of Agate the first thing that comes to my mind are Thunder Eggs.

Copied the following from my previous post regarding Thunder Eggs.

Thunder Eggs are round agate filled nodules which form in some types of silica-rich volcanic rocks e.g. Rhyolite. As the molten volcanic lava cooled , steam and other gasses trapped in the lava formed an expanding bubble. Silica minerals often crystalized around the bubble forming ball shaped spherulites. Sometimes gas pressure can force the spherulite apart to form a central hollow which is later filled with gels to form the patterned or banded core which may consist of agate, chalcedony, opal, quartz or jasper. Although Oregon and Washington are the best known localities for Thunder Eggs, they are also found in Australia and other countries.

And a legend pertaining to Thunder Eggs.

The Warm Spring Indians tell of Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson Thunder Spirits becoming angry with one another. They hurled spherical rocks back and forth during violent thunder storms. The spirits had stolen these weapons from the nests of Thunderbirds. Stray shots landed in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation where they can still be found today.

Below are four Thunder Eggs which for me highlight some of the differances both in the shells and in the cores of Thunder Eggs.

The first (left) Thunder Egg is a good example of and egg which is almost entirely filled with banded agate. The top of it is filled with quartz. Thunder Eggs are not always just filled with one mineral as shown in this one.

The next Thunder Egg (second from left) is again filled with banded agate. It also didnt fill completely as seen by the little hollow in the top. Two things make this egg unique. First, the outer shell shows signs of having had cracks or factures in it. The cracks, in time, were filled with agate as can be seen. Second, if you look closely at the banding you will see that the angle of it changes slightly just over half way up. This shows that as the egg was filling it somehow shifted its position at one point causing it to fill at a different angle. (this shifting was due either to an earthquake or a volcanic event)

The third egg (thrid from the left) is a typical example of an agate filled Thunder Egg. What caught my attention about this one is that it shows a 5 pointed starburst. Although I have seen extrordinary examples of 5 pointed starbursts in the past in Thunder Eggs this is the best specimen I have found to date personally.

The last egg (far right) is an example of a double Thunder Egg (two eggs attached to form one mass). As you can see, one side is totally agate while the other is predominantly quartz with little agate. The quartz side also contains a little hollow of crystals. What I find most striking about this egg is its shell. The little lines remind me of lightening bolts shooting into/through it.

The hardest part of this post for me was the selecting of the four eggs which I should post. I hold all of my eggs very close to my heart and to pick four only to show was difficult as every one I have is unique and special.

[CzechWoods]

how beautiful ou have picked them, an excellent post wolfsong

those thunder-egg agates remind me of the black forest german agates, just that they arent thunder-eggs on the outside and reddish on the inside

will tyr looking for a pic later but have non on stock to scasn it if i dont fimnd any on ym hard drive

ok so here are 4 slizes i got just days ago

minas gerais, brazilian agate. these slizes are pretty huge; bout 6.5" x 10"

the great thing about them is, that one pair is of the same agate stone, the other one possibly too

both have excellent to very good chalcedony (blue lace) in them, and a lot of clear quartz too

and they are not dyed (thank gods)

would have been apitty.

the fifth pic shows a polished standing piece of an agate geode, with grey and naturally blue laces

in the middle there is a pale carnelian colour and white agate plus a tid bit of crystals.

i call this stone fire lady, maybe you can guess why ?


havent decided yet whether any of these is for sale, i am bad like that *giggles*

[Wolfsong]

Here's another unique piece of Agate which I litterally tripped over one day about 14 years ago. I was out walking along the shore of a lake about 100 km. south of where I live when I saw a small rock sticking out of the mud which caught my eye. I tried picking it up but it refused to move so I started digging it out with my hands. When I was done I was holding a mudball about 30 cm. in diameter. After giving it a quick was in the lake I knew I had a piece of petrified wood so I packed it up and took it home. Once i had hosed off all the mud its true beauty came out. I took it to the local university and was informed it was indeed an agatized piece of petrified wood as I had thought. Its pictured naturally. It hasnt been polished in any way and hasnt been wetted to bring out the colors. It is litterally how I found it.. minus the mud of course.

Oh... its the big piece on the left. The piece on the right is a polished piece of petrified Cherry from Oregon. Its about 30 million years old.

60242

You have my curiosity up about the agate from the black forest Czechwoods. I have heard a lot about it and have been looking for a high quality specimen for some time with no luck. I was born in Mulheim an der Ruhr but left Germany at the age of 6 and have not been back since. If you ever come across a picture please post it. It really would make my day :)

[CzechWoods]

nope havent any on my hard drive but will get some in the wholesale next time i a there and post a pic here

in the meantime at least a nice jasp-agate from the thunder mountain in germany (donnersberg, rhein-land-pfalz)

[CzechWoods]

nope havent any on my hard drive but will get some in the wholesale next time i a there and post a pic here

in the meantime at least a nice jasp-agate from the thunder mountain in germany (donnersberg, rhein-land-pfalz)

*now including the pictures

adding also agate in matrix from waldhammbach germany

and a beautiful picture of a agate looking like botswana agate, yet it is german agate from idar obesstein

[lightdragon]

how beautiful ou have picked them, an excellent post wolfsong

havent decided yet whether any of these is for sale, i am bad like that *giggles*
oh yeah Wolfsong. Excellent post.
Oh Czechwoods. it don`t matter if they are not for sale or not. Just posting a pic of them is nice. Big pics are helpful. Also on another thread I didn`t get to mention that was the first time i saw undyed brazilian agates. all the ones i saw were all dyed.Including the ones i own.

[Wolfsong]

Another interesting Agate formation. This is a piece of Dry Head Agate from Big Horn Mountain in Montana. I call it "Earth" as the two masses remind me of a map of our earth. This one came to me through a retired rockhound in Saskatchewan who spends his winters traveling the USA rockhounding with his wife. The picture does not do this one justice.

60270

[Copperaven]

very similar to the dry head are the teepee canyon agates out of south dakota

http://www.rocknbead.com/minfos/tepe.jpg

[Pesha]

I am on the floor here just swooning over these specmines. I need Thunder eggs. Oh I am dertemined after seeing these pics to somehow put my old collection back into being. Will have to start from scratch, but oh I need to do it so bad.

[CzechWoods]

.... so everyone can see, that brazils is not only about dying of stones...

by the way, remind me i want to post some background info on the traditions of dying agates in brazils and worldwide

when i am back from my trip


the following shows 3 stunning geodes

the sold one almost looks like a mother holding her child
from brazil, minais gerais, rich in chalcedony. weight was 1 kg (2.5 pounds)

than there is the black stunning one, with the redish patterns, it is simply breathtaking

and i have asmall one i call coven, becaus eon one site of it you can see like people who are gatrhering under a thin moon

cn you see them ? like wearing robes and all ?


plus i posted two more agate slizes from brazil, naturalundyed too.

one shows a pattern ofa fish, the other one has a triangle in the middle covered with clear quartz crystals, shows slight opalisation and the beautiful laces in browns and blacks....

i believe it also contains some chloride or dendrites ... well stunning as it is

[Wolfsong]

Couple of more quick examples of Agate formations I dug up.. litterally :) Both come from brazil.

The first is an Agate Occo. Although it resembles a Thunder Egg these, at times, can form without any volcanic influences. More often than not though they do follow the same formation processes as Thunder Eggs.

The second picture is of an Agate Concha. These formations are found in caves and form under stalagtites. These are the little "splash pools" which occur when mineral rich water drops off the tips of overhead stalagtites.

60316 60317

[CzechWoods]

they are both excellent beauties, wolfsong.

the second one is also known as chalcedony (aka blue lace agate) rose or rosette

[Wolfsong]

And a few more interesting Agate Thunder Egg formations.

The left picture is of a Thunder Egg with great dentrites.

The second from the left is a very rare formation where the crust actually had an extention running from it right through the middle of the Thunder Egg. It was a lucky cut on this egg to catch this "core" right in the middle of the egg.

The third egg from the left has opal just inside the shell... a very thin layer of agate just inside the opal and the core is quartz.

The last egg, far right, is actually a specimen from the reservation mentioned in the legend in my first post on this thread. These eggs are all but impossible to come by now unless you know someone on the reservation

60322603236032460325

[CzechWoods]

perfect. phantastic, stunning, i am running out of superlatives, perfect stones, great post, thanks soooo much for sharing those beauties with us

[Pesha]

Well I am just in awe of the specimens you both have posted. Really beautiful. You see the rock and it is just a big stone really and then yuo open it up and voila a beautiful thing is inside it. Really lovely thankyou both. I adore opening up plain looking rocks myself.

[Wolfsong]

My last example of an Agate formation (I think).

This formation is known as Limb Cast. These are 2 uncut natural examples. If you were to cut these open the inside would be a core of either Agate or Opal. In this case its Agate. These are petrified tree limbs where the cores are replaced by either agate or opal which sometimes bleeds out to start coating the exterior of the limb which is the case with these 2 specimens.

I also included a second picture of a whole uncut Thunder Egg. I've posted enough pictures of cut Thunder Eggs I thought some of you may be curious as to what the uncut specimen looks like. The Thunder Egg is the right one. The left object is an uncut Septarian Nodule. As I stated in a previous post... I enjoy looking at the cut specimens but I also love having uncut natural specimens on hand which have not been "doctored" by humans in any suggificant way.

60335 60336

[Wolfsong]

Thought you would enjoy this CzechWoods. An agate (thunder egg) from Germany. Just got it today.

61208

[CzechWoods]

Thought you would enjoy this CzechWoods. An agate (thunder egg) from Germany. Just got it today.

61208


where is it from ? where in germany i mean :)

it is outstanding

[Wolfsong]

Hohenstein-Ernstthal

[CzechWoods]

Hohenstein-Ernstthal


oooh ooooooooooooooh from saxony, they indeed have some fantastic stones :D

[Dawa Lhamo]

My great-grandmother used to collect agates and put them in a glass fishbowl and keep it by a window. When they moved her to a nursing home her agates came to me.

I love to walk along the shore of my grandparents' lake when the water is low and look for agates.

All the ones I have are more or less rough, ranging from light yellow to dark amber in color.

I find agates best in the late afternoon, when the sunlight comes from a shallower angle and makes the agates glow.

The smaller ones have been tossed by the water that they're like tiny little glowing eggs.

That is in northern Minnesota, near Duluth. (Agate is the state rock of MN: http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/virt_egg/agate.htm .... Most my agates look like those in this picture: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/Kids/artwork/State-Gemstone.jpg )

I'll have to find my USB cord and some batteries to take pics.

After granite (as I said in the other thread) agate is my favorite stone.

Tashi delek!
Dawa Lhamo

[CzechWoods]

My great-grandmother used to collect agates and put them in a glass fishbowl and keep it by a window. When they moved her to a nursing home her agates came to me.

I love to walk along the shore of my grandparents' lake when the water is low and look for agates.

All the ones I have are more or less rough, ranging from light yellow to dark amber in color.

I find agates best in the late afternoon, when the sunlight comes from a shallower angle and makes the agates glow.

The smaller ones have been tossed by the water that they're like tiny little glowing eggs.

That is in northern Minnesota, near Duluth. (Agate is the state rock of MN: http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/virt_egg/agate.htm .... Most my agates look like those in this picture: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/Kids/artwork/State-Gemstone.jpg )

I'll have to find my USB cord and some batteries to take pics.

After granite (as I said in the other thread) agate is my favorite stone.

Tashi delek!
Dawa Lhamo

awww thank you for this post.

i have had a look at those agates, and started to cry. they are beautiful. remind me of some jasp-aates i have from some regions in germany, mainly thunder mountain, and one of them i have sent to a friend in minesota, for the stone wanted to go to america, to her namely

and seeing this picture now i am touched to tears.

sometimes i am strange like that :elf:

sniff*

[Wolfsong]

When my family first moved from Germany we moved to Thunder Bay Ontario, about 200 miles north of Duluth. Unfortunately, back then (6 yrs old) I didnt know about the lake superior agates. Some day I hope to go back and collect some.

Yours truely is an endearing story Dawa. Thank you for sharing it.

[Wolfsong]

Three river agates from the Yangtze River,near Nan Jing, China. I absolutely love the agates from this area. These are completely natural and are shown dry.

61396

The feeling I get when I hold these stones and meditate with them really is undiscribable. I look at these and see beauty rarely seen in agates found anywhere else. A natural beauty that is there, ready for everyone to see. Nature shows no boundries in regards to sharing her beauty. It is there... everywhere for all living things to admire. No matter where you travel on this planet, although it may vary, there is beauty to be found. Maybe some day humans will find this same beauty within themselves and realise that no matter where we live or what we believe in we each hold an inner beauty... I like to dream of such a day......