SiS: DEMING Thunderegg Agate - Baker Ranch, New Mexico

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This is a larger than average thunderegg agate nodule from the Baker Ranch near Deming, New Mexico. This is one of the few stones I've seen from this bed that had such a perfectly shaped thunderegg husk. Most of these nodules are extracted from a relatively hard host rock and they don't all have such nicely textured rinds. This one is also unusual in that it has a floating agate pattern in a sea of water clear icy quartz! It's a pretty stone with beautiful colors framed by sparkling clear icy quartz in the center! Of course we've polished this up to a collector quality finish - it's what sets our stones apart from the rest! This is one of the newest offerings from the Sticks-in-Stones rockshop. It's a gorgeous agate nodule from the Baker Ranch Thunderegg mine south of Deming, New Mexico. These are some of the most colorful agate thunderegg nodules around. I've been doing some custom polishing work for one of the fellows that works the mine with the owner fairly regularly and he traded me a pile of uncut eggs for some recent work. I've been having a wonderful time cutting these little gems because they are so completely unpredictable. While some have hollow centers, others are lined with colorful agate or, like this one, completely filled with dicey clear quartz crystals over a band of pink opal! The yield is fairly low on these eggs so the best ones fetch a high price, but the colors and patterns are unmatched in these little beauties and a specimen or two from this location is a must for any agate, geode or thunderegg collector. If you aren't familiar with thundereggs, they are a unique agate formation that occurs in the volcanic strata here in the Pacific Northwest and in a relatively smaller number of other western locations (Deming is the furthest east of any deposit I know of). Bubbles that formed in pyroclastic volcanic flows millions of years ago have been transformed into these unique agate nodules. They get their name from the Native American tribes of the area who tell the story of how the volcanos in the Cascade mountain range would war with one another, stealing the eggs from the thunderbird and hurling them great distances at each other. To us lapidaries, they represent a cornucopia of unique and beautiful agate formations that are used in everything from jewelry to spheres. I like cutting them in half and polishing the best of them to show off the spectacular agate formations hidden inside. This particularly variety is quite a bit more expensive than the Pacific Northwest thundereggs, but they are worth it in my opinion. Each is unique and different, though each known bed of eggs follows some sort of predictable theme. In the Baker eggs - that theme reminds me of some of the fine fortification agates from further south in Mexico. These eggs aren't often seen and the digging in this claim is done only a couple of times a year. This egg was cut in half with a diamond saw then ground and polished on a series of specially designed flat laps we built just for this purpose. The polish we achieve with this equipment is what really sets our stones apart! This one has a good sized agate and clear quartz crystal center and rich color pattern in the matrix with bands of colored common opal in what started as the bottom of the egg cavity. It measures about 3 1/2" across the polished face. Weight is 0.66 lbs. Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary is happily providing UPS shipping to greatly reduce shipping charges on large rock orders. We will combine auction items or provide additional items from our shop to bring you the greatest possible value in fine Lapidary & stone collectibles! I accept payments from anyone with a credit card at PayPal - always FREE! read more

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