Posted 8 years ago
rniederman
(346 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.
all upper American Midwest is right Rob and beautiful!!
Beautiful specimen Rob!
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.
I like my rocks unpolished too. Sadly I know nothing about them I just buy what I like.
Amazing & beautiful!
Thanks for the appreciation and comments!
Sean
pops52
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!
GREAT READ !!! Love the "LAKER" !!!!!
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Thanks, pw-collector!
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Thanks, Robyn23!
Maybe this is a dum-dum question, but what would have happened to the crystal(s) this stone formed around?
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.
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.