fliesonly
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by fliesonly on Oct 21, 2020 14:43:59 GMT -5
OK, so here is my latest unknown find. The rock still needs quite a bit of work, but I'm curious if to see if anyone can tell me what it is. I mean, it sorta looks like an agate to me, but I'll let others voice their far more experienced opinions before I decide what to do. It's about the size of a nickle, by the way.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Oct 21, 2020 18:06:27 GMT -5
I'm guessing a banded agate of some variety. I like them!
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Post by stephan on Oct 21, 2020 18:07:18 GMT -5
With the usual "hard-to-say-from-just-a-picture" disclaimer, it looks like brecciated jasper, healed with druzy quartz (I don't see any agate). The black stuff has many possibilities (more jasper, hematite, some sort of coating...).
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,201
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Post by quartzilla on Oct 21, 2020 22:31:06 GMT -5
I dub thee peppermint covered in chocolate.
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fliesonly
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by fliesonly on Oct 28, 2020 11:35:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the input. Once I get it polished, I'll post some additional photos and see if people still feel the same. Here's the odd thing about the rock...how/where I found it. I wasn't out looking for rocks, I was actually on a friends property (about 200 acres) where an old farmhouse from the late 1800s/early 1900s once stood, doing some metal detecting. I was walking back towards my car and was basically out in the middle of nowhere (not anywhere near the old foundations) when I got a hit on my detector. I dug up an old hand-made cut nail about 8 inches down. In the process of digging, I unearthed this rock. I mean, think of the odds? I found this little rock 8 inches down in a some random field only because it was laying next to an old nail. Ignore the metal detector for a second. Imagine walking into a 200 acre field, randomly picking a spot, digging a hole, and finding that rock. I love stuff like that.
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Post by rmf on Oct 28, 2020 16:43:09 GMT -5
I would call it a Lake Superior Agate. Where did you find it? You can find Lakers in MI, MN, WI, IA, MO, IL, and KS. Also along the Mississippi river gravels.
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Post by Bob on Oct 28, 2020 21:37:32 GMT -5
A poor quality LS agate is what I thought too. The black almost looks like asphalt, as if it might have been embedded in a road once.
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fliesonly
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by fliesonly on Oct 29, 2020 10:02:10 GMT -5
I would call it a Lake Superior Agate. Where did you find it? You can find Lakers in MI, MN, WI, IA, MO, IL, and KS. Also along the Mississippi river gravels. That's the weird thing. I was metal detecting and old foundation where a farmhouse once stood. I was done doing that and was now out in the middle of field, walking back to my car, when I got a hit on my detector. I dug up an old nail and found this rock in the process. It was about 8 inches under ground, all by itself. Would have remained there for all eternity if not for the dumb luck and lying next to a nail, and the dumb luck of me randomly walking over it while my detector was still on. This is a field that was once used for crops (like 50 years ago) in the literal middle of Michigan. Nowhere near Lake Superior, or even the U.P. for that matter. Closest "civilization" (other than a few scattered homes) was probably a small town named Remus. What's funny is that this is probably the best agate I've found, and I have searched on the shores of Lake Superior (in Grand Marias and East towards Whitefish Point)...and I find my best rock 280 miles South buried in the middle of an old farm field next to a nail...while I wasn't even looking for rocks.
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bdport67
off to a rocking start
Are you licking that?!
Member since September 2020
Posts: 18
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Post by bdport67 on Oct 29, 2020 10:09:45 GMT -5
I don't see agate there either... Looks to me like granite or jasper with quartz fracture heal or something. I see the banding, but its not agate banding to me.
Cool rock either way...
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Post by Bob on Oct 29, 2020 13:39:10 GMT -5
Send an image to Mike Wendt of agate-beach.com. He buys LS agates by the thousands and would probably tell you instantly if it is or isn't. By the way, buying his DVD is worth it just for all the info and videos of his huge tumbling operation!
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Post by rmf on Oct 30, 2020 9:59:53 GMT -5
I would call it a Lake Superior Agate. Where did you find it? You can find Lakers in MI, MN, WI, IA, MO, IL, and KS. Also along the Mississippi river gravels. That's the weird thing. I was metal detecting and old foundation where a farmhouse once stood. I was done doing that and was now out in the middle of field, walking back to my car, when I got a hit on my detector. I dug up an old nail and found this rock in the process. It was about 8 inches under ground, all by itself. Would have remained there for all eternity if not for the dumb luck and lying next to a nail, and the dumb luck of me randomly walking over it while my detector was still on. This is a field that was once used for crops (like 50 years ago) in the literal middle of Michigan. Nowhere near Lake Superior, or even the U.P. for that matter. Closest "civilization" (other than a few scattered homes) was probably a small town named Remus. What's funny is that this is probably the best agate I've found, and I have searched on the shores of Lake Superior (in Grand Marias and East towards Whitefish Point)...and I find my best rock 280 miles South buried in the middle of an old farm field next to a nail...while I wasn't even looking for rocks. Our what is now North America had a rift that went from Canada down to Kansas. That rift spewed lava for many million years and left the rhyolites and basalts that Lakers formed in (estimated to be from 1.4 to 1 billion years old) . This became the continental core of North America. The last glacier they estimate was a mile high pile of ice at Chicago at its max during the last Ice Age. By geologic standards if the glacier did not push the agates in the soil it is possible to transport random stones via the melt water run off as the glacier melted. Who knows how it got there but a lucky find. As a further note many states have had diamond discovered randomly most back in the 1800's while people were panning streams looking for gold. Since most states do not have diamond pipes where are they from. Transported by various flood waters from Canada? Who Knows.
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