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Lake Superior Agate (with a rarely seen feature)

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    Posted 8 years ago

    rniederman
    (343 items)

    Confession time: I’ve always loved fossils, minerals, crystals, and agates. Heck, as kids my older brother and I owned lapidary equipment. Anyhow, the lapidary stuff is long gone but today we (actually my wife) have a rather large collection of Lake Superior agates. My wife is the primary collector; she likes polished specimens that show impeccable banding. I prefer roughs and only have a couple examples, but this particular specimen is very special.

    The first two pictures show what a typical “laker” looks like in its original state. Hardcore Lake Superior agate collectors prefer to keep these with the 'husks' as found. Classic banding appears in parts of the husk giving a hint of what is inside. A window was cut and polished in one end showing beautifully formed banding with an outer reddish hue from the presence of iron.

    So ... why not completely slice or polish this specimen?

    Well ... because it has a rarely seen feature (third picture).

    Take a close look. The tapering impression is about 1” wide by 2” deep, which is practically the entire depth of the stone. The incredibly preserved six-sided cavity is from a dogtooth calcite spar. In other words, this agate slowly formed over a single large crystal! It’s simply amazing that the stone still created beautiful banding.

    The opposite side of the stone (fourth picture) has further surprises; six lesser impressions from smaller calcite crystals which must have clustered around the single large spear.

    All-in-all, it’s a rare example of a fine Lake Superior agate found in the upper American Midwest.

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    Comments

    1. SEAN68 SEAN68, 8 years ago
      all upper American Midwest is right Rob and beautiful!!
    2. pops52 pops52, 8 years ago
      Beautiful specimen Rob!
    3. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      Your reputation is ruined! You dirty your fingers with rocks ? That doesn't get into the mechanism of cameras & rifle scopes ? LOL !! We used to trip over geodes looking for arrowheads i N. AL.
    4. fortapache fortapache, 8 years ago
      I like my rocks unpolished too. Sadly I know nothing about them I just buy what I like.
    5. walksoftly walksoftly, 8 years ago
      Amazing & beautiful!
    6. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks for the appreciation and comments!
      Sean
      pops52
    7. Rick55 Rick55, 8 years ago
      Oh wow Rniederman, this is such a fantastic piece! I've always loved cut and polished rocks and have never seen one like this! It gives you the best of two worlds... part in its natural form while still allowing you to see the beautiful banding on the inside. I love it!
    8. vetraio50 vetraio50, 8 years ago
      GREAT READ !!! Love the "LAKER" !!!!!
    9. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      Efesgirl
      olebodie
      rhinoman
      SpiritBear
    10. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      martika
      Caperkid
      fortapache
    11. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      Nicefice
      racer4four
      jeneric
    12. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      Thomas
      inky
      kyratango
    13. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      Phil
      David
    14. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      vetraio50
      iggy
      blunderbuss2
      NevadaBlades
      valentino97
      Rick55
    15. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      Scott
      Michael
      wickencrafts
      aura
      antiquerose
    16. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      valentino97
      Hunter
      SpiritBear
    17. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks!
      katherinescollections
      NevadaBlades
    18. rniederman rniederman, 8 years ago
      Thanks, pw-collector!
    19. rniederman rniederman, 7 years ago
      Thanks, Poire!
    20. rniederman rniederman, 6 years ago
      Thanks, buckethead!
    21. rniederman rniederman, 2 years ago
      Thanks, Robyn23!
    22. AnythingObscure AnythingObscure, 2 years ago
      Maybe this is a dum-dum question, but what would have happened to the crystal(s) this stone formed around?
    23. rniederman rniederman, 2 years ago
      Hi AnythingObscure ... actually, that's a great question. I reached out to the geologist / friend who sold me the agate. I'll post an answer when he replies.
    24. rniederman rniederman, 2 years ago
      Hi AnythingObscure ... I learned the answer to your question. Putting all the geo-science described to me aside (I didn't understand a lot of it); in essence, after the calcite crystal was exposed to the environment, it dissolved slowly from mildly acidic water.

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