Category: Customer Agate Finds

Since the museum has not been open, I only have one set of actual customer agate photos. Chris Cooper showed me the raw agate last summer that he physically extracted from basaltic rock in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Since this agate nodule had never been subjected to erosional forces (e.g. waves, ice, etc.). Notice how there is a full husk on this agate and that absolutely none of the chalcedony is showing on the outside. Keep in mind that this is rare and almost never happens with agates found on the beach, which have been subjected to erosional forces. Chris then tumbled the agate. Below are the before and after pictures.

For this month’s update, I’ll supplement this posting with some agate photos that I have taken, all of which are included in the Online Rockhounding Adventures. The next two photos show exposed banding on Lake Superior agates. The first one is a raw agate and the second is a polished agate.

Here are some more photos showing raw agates on the beach.

The two photos below are close up images of a Lake Superior paintstone agate.

 

It has been a crazy summer. I have pictures of several customer agates below. I must admit that my camera has been having some issues with the way it is saving the image files, so I am not exactly certain which of the cards I kept with the names and dates of the agate finders go with which of the images. So I am going to give it my best shot. PLEASE send me an email to  if I have made a mistake with any of the agate and agate finder match ups.

L Bergen (Roseville, MN) found this amethyst center filled Lake Superior agate in a construction zone.

Chris Cooper stopped by the museum showed me some incredible specimens of agate as well as greenstone, thomsonite, and other rocks. Check out the copper replacement agate that Chris found and face polished, as well as the whole nodule with intact husk that he pried out of basaltic rock out in Lake Superior off the shore of Copper Harbor. Sorry that I didn’t get a picture of Chris.

Ethan from Kalkaska, MI found this large specimen that measures 3” x 2” x 1.5”.

The next agate is a rare iron lace agate that formed in seams between metamorphosed iron ore layers in the Ishpeming, MI area. Most of these rare agates were found back in the 1970s. Gloria Town (Hillsdale, MI) acquired this nice specimen from Jeff Anderson at the Ishpeming show.

Jason Brandt emailed me this photo of an amygdaloidal basalt with small agate pockets.

Larry Dorau emailed me this terrific picture of a moss agate.

Patty and Bob Zummer (Ann Arbor, MI) are up in Grand Marais for their annual camping trip. They have had great success agate hunting this year on the beaches east of town.

Patty O (Bear Lake, MI) found this gray, tube, shadow agate in Grand Marais.

Rhonda Riebow emailed me this picture of agates she found east of Grand Marais.

Ryan Ailie found this Lake Superior agate.

 

I have had a number of people stop by the museum in the last couple of weeks to show me some incredible agates. Several people have also sent me pictures via email.

Let’s start with some agates found by Brian Wolbrink from Allendale, MI. He has been agate hunting for several years, but lately has really turned it up a notch. He purchased some used equipment from me last year and is compiling even more equipment. Some of the agates below are still in the rough, while others have been “dressed up.”

First, here is a picture of Brian and then two photos that he submitted via email.

Brian’s next agate is an unusual ruin again. The horizontal streak through the specimen is a healed fracture.

Brian’s next agate is a very translucent carnelian agate.

The next agate has some interesting iron oxide plumes.

Brian’s next agate is a cute candy striper.

Here are a couple more of Brian’s agates. In the second photo below, notice the bright mineral inclusions near the top of the specimen.

The next series of agate photos were submitted via email from David Schuder who lives in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the western U.P. of Michigan. He loves to cut open rough looking Lake Superior agates in hope of finding interesting inclusions or other formations. Most of the agates were found in the Sedar Bay area. The first two agates shown below are sagenite agates.

Check out this terrific eye agate.

This submitted photo is not completely in focus, but I love the tubes and the character of this agate.

The first email I received from David included information and pictures that correct the list of agate formations included in my agate book for Michigan. Previously I have never seen a Lake Superior agate with dendritic formation. I stand corrected.

This terrific Lake Superior candy striped agate belongs to my friend, Jill.

The next series of agates were brought into the museum by Nolan and Doreen Johnson who are from St. Johns, MI. These first two pictures show both sides of a nice Laker.

Here are a couple more of their agates plus a picture of Nolan and Doreen.

Recently Wayne from Three Rivers, MI came into the museum to show me this incredible agate. This specimen weighs around 7 ounces.

Although agates from different geographic areas tend to vary in their characteristics, this is less true for an agate found in Washington state by Toni from Toledo, WA. Other than its huge size, it looks a lot like a Lake Superior agate. Despite its large size, notice that the agate is still translucent. This agate was found in a river. Since it is a whole nodule, there are no fractures that expose the banding.

 

Given that beach rocks are still for the most part not accessible, I do not have any submissions for recent agate finds. However, Jeff Carlson submitted the following picture in early winter. He found this basaltic matrix rock with a carnelian agate pocket and other brecciated fill. The rock was found at on an undisclosed Lake Superior beach.

Last summer I posted a few pictures of Claudia Wyrick’s agates. She recently sent me some photos of Lake Superior agates her parents found on Isle Royal in the mid-1950s. These agates found by Bud and Gloria Norris include a candy stripped agate, plume agate, sagenite agate, and white agate.

I have been posting customer agate finds for several years. On my blog a month or so ago I included close up photos from some of these agate finds. I’ve decided to include them here, although I spent a bit more time cleaning up the pictures files.

This is the slow time of year for people to submit pictures of agate finds. Even this fall I did not receive very many emails. There are a few that I can feature in this update, though. The first is an interesting seam agate found in the Grand Marais area. It also has tubes, or perhaps they are stalk aggregates. This agate was found by Celt and Karen Hicks, who are from Sparta, Michigan.

I received an email from Mark Buda, who lives in the Bay City, Michigan area. They were rock hunting in a gravel pit down state. In amongst fossils and other quartz rocks they found these agate-like specimens. With their thick husk they are not translucent. Since I have not seen them in person I cannot determine if they are agates or banded jasper or chert. I like them so I am including photos below.

For the past year I have been corresponding with David Jude from Ann Arbor. He is a research scientist in the School of Natural Resources. Since I received my bachelor’s degree from this school, I always enjoy corresponding with David. He found this agate near Paradise, Michigan.

I also received an email from Andy Johnson, who lives in the state of Washington. He sent me two pictures of agates he found near Mount Saint Helen as well as some of the beach agates he found on the Pacific Ocean shore. The Mount Saint Helens agates appear to be similar to agates found in Luna, New Mexico as well as in Panama.

 

I have a variety of agate photos featured in this update’s “Customer Agate Finds.” First, here are a couple of shots of a Lake Superior agate found by Chris Cooper at the mouth of the Two Hearted River, located an hour and a half east of Grand Marais.

Next are a couple of agates found by Janice Chamberlin in the Whitefish Point area. Janice is from n Diamondale, MI.

Finally, I have some more Australian agate find photos submitted by John Nedwich. Notice how similar these Queensland Australia agates are to Lake Superior agates.

 

Since I have not had time to implement a web page update for quite some time, I’ll include LOTS of customer agate finds. First, let’s start with one of my favorite agates found this summer. This candy striper was found by Andrea from Troy, MI.

Next is a Becky B from Pittsburgh, PA She found this ¾ pounder that has a carnelian center with white floater bands just to the left of the boardwalk right in town. Of course, the wind and waves were blowing for three days prior to her find, which helps to mix up and bring new rocks up the beach.

Bonnie (Singleton) Parker from Newberry, MI came by the Rock On agate show in Deer Park to show me her terrific finds. The one in the upper left looks like a Botswana, Africa agate, but Bonnie swears she found it on the Lake Superior beach. I totally agree that she did. It just goes to show you that when it comes to agates, there are no absolutes.

Claudia Wyrick from Rochester Hills, MI spent a good deal of time in Grand Marais agate hunting this summer. She brought in many unusual and splendid finds, including this terrific and rare sagenite agate. The picture shows the specimen after I face polished it.

Doreen Johnson and Rose Ritter both came by my booth at Muskallonge State Park to show me the water level and the 1.8 pound agate they found.

I don’t have a picture of Gary Darling, but here are a couple of shots of a 15 ounce agate he found east of Grand Marais.

Peggy from North Street, MI found this unusually round water level agate in the Grand Marais area.

Rebecca Reed from Kalamazoo, MI found this unusual specimen. Is it an eye agate? An unusual amygdaloidal basalt? A complex rock with miniature thunder egg formations?

Steve Hollingshead from Germfask, MI has been by a few different times. Pictured below is a 1.1 pound cherty agate, as well as a large owl-like silicified fossil, and a nice candy striper.

Last but not least is the nicest large agate I’ve seen this summer come off the local beach. Local resident, Cathy Goulet, was walking her dog down the beach when she saw this 1.33 pounder rolling in the pea gravel. It is a jasper agate, but it has incredible banding! I don’t have a picture of Cathy, but I was able to get a few shots of her incredible agate!

 

Since spring has sprung in Grand Marais, rockhounds have been out to hit the beach. Since I have not had time to do a web page in a while, I’ll include several agates for you rockhounds to drool over.

First I’ll start by featuring the agates found by my friend, Dan Kinney, who lives in the Soo. He backpacked from the mouth of the Two Hearted River west to Deer Park. He had intended on getting all the way to Grand Marais, but the weather turned cold and rainy and was not conducive to agate hunting. He didn’t find any huge agates this time, unlike most of his agate hunting adventures, but he found some wowsers. Here are a couple of group shots of his agates, as well as a close up of my favorite – a nice candy striper.

Next is a peeler Lake Superior agate found in Minnesota by Brad Huus from Duluth .

Herb and Wendy Confer from Owosso, MI visited the museum in late May to show me some of their finds. They also gifted my assistant, Candace, and me with a bottle of pure maple syrup. I’m sure Candace and her husband appreciated it as much as I did! They found over 40 agates, including one with an amethyst center fill.

Jeff Robbins from Lake City, MI also came by the museum. Below is a picture of a ¾ pound Lake Superior agate he found east of Grand Marais last August on an already picked-over beach.

Bryan Wolbrink and his wife from the Grand Rapids area showed off some of their agate finds. They both love visiting the south shore of Lake Superior to look for agates.

Last but not least is an email submission sent to me from Pam Rideout and Margi White. The photo is of agates they found in Washington state.

Early this fall I had a call from Shirley Schadle. She now lives with her husband in Grand Rapids, MI, but she grew up in Zambia, Africa. Her dad was a veterinarian there, so Shirley had a chance to look for agates near Victoria Falls as well as along the Luangwa River. She visited my booth at both the Mason and East Grand Rapids shows. When I saw the Zambia agates, I was struck by three things. First of all, many of them looked just like Lake Superior agates. I have said that before about some of the agates from Botswana, China, and Mexico – but this time the similarities are even more pronounced.

Second, there were a couple of the agates that look a lot like Botswana agates with pinks and grays. When I did some research to find out more about the genesis of Zambia agates, I found out that they formed in basalt pockets from plumes of hot magma that erupted to the surface of southern Africa between 177 and 185 million years ago. This type of plume is considered by geologists to be a “large igneous province” since it spread lava over an area more than 38,610 square miles in a short geologic period. What is interesting is that this same plume produced both Zambia and Botswana agates.

Third, I noticed that some of the agates appear to be polished. When I asked Shirley if she tumbled them, she emphatically said that she had not. Apparently there was diamond dust that naturally occurred in the river. As the agate nodules tumbled down the river carried by the currents, some of them were naturally polished by this diamond sand.

Below is a Zambia agate that not only looks like a Lake Superior eye agate, but it was also naturally polished by the diamond sand in the river

The next contribution to this web page update includes agates found by Lee Dane from Vanderbilt, MI. She goes agate hunting every chance she gets, most of the time between Crisp Point and Vermillion Beach, located on the southeastern shore of Lake Superior. Lee showed me the agates during a busy art show, but I was able to snap off a few pictures.

 

There are several great agates to post in this month’s update. Let’s begin with a whopper 16 pound agate found decades ago by the grandmother of Paul Mihelcich near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She knew it was agate because of a fracture that exposed the banding. It has the typical pink paintstone color that is common in Keweenaw agates. She had it cut in half at the Seaman Mineral Museum. Paul still has both halves.

Next up is my friend, Denise Reitz from Interlochen, MI, who found an agate as well as a spirit stone. We call spirit stones any specimens that have a hole all the way through them. This is a perfect spirit stone that is ready to wear as a pendant. The agate was “glowing” at Denise as she walked on the beach in an orientation that allowed the sun to shine through the rocks.

One of the caretakers of the Point Iroquois Lighthouse, located in Brimley, MI, had success agate hunting. Roxanne Tobey, from Cedar Park, Texas, discovered the beauty of Lake Superior agates. She found a few on her own and then participated in one of the Gitche Gumee Museum’s rockhounding classes. Here are a few of her finds:

The next handful of agates was found by Rhonda Riebow from Dewitt, MI. She sent the photo as an email attachment with the following note:

My husband and I just returned from five days in the UP–we had a great time! We visited the Agate Museum and enjoyed it immensely. My husband was especially taken with the Shark and its history. I bought your new book while we were there…I had already found a couple little agates (one is an eye agate!) but learned to “think like an agate” and then found a bunch more. Our final day camping at Muskallonge Lake I made one final early morning sweep before packing up. Not 15 minutes before I had to leave the beach I found the big one (well, big to me) in my hand! I was so glad I opted to go to the beach one more time!!!

The last agate was found in the Grand Marais area by Joel Brussell, who was visiting from down state.