I cut and polished this odd Tube Agate and had a vision of the Starship Enterprise coming out of warp drive and finding they had actually warped right into this agate. Only an old Trekker, like myself, would think this. How WOULD that look exactly?  How would Kirk or Picard escape from this dilemma?  I’ve never been known to think like others, I admit, but if this shows up on the IMAX screen, I WILL claim credit. 

A Very Special Lake Superior Agate.

You might suspect, based on how many blogs I’ve written on Isle Royale Greenstones, that they are my favorite rock or mineral from the Great Lakes Region. I do indeed love Greenstones, but those that know me also know that Lake Superior Agates are really my favorite stones. The more unusual the Laker, the better I like it. This blog is the story of one particular Laker. Other than playing with lighting, I have not enhanced this agate in any way. What you see in the pictures is as close as I can come to what I see.

When I first view a rough Lake Superior Agate I always wonder what does the inside of this agate look like? In many cases I can take an educated guess based on the thousands I’ve seen, but in many cases it becomes a mystery, and I cannot wait to slice that agate open.

I obtain my Lake Superior Agates in many ways; find them, trade for them, or buy them.  These Lakers may come from swap meets or rock show, but most of my best agates come from trusted dealers.  I make jewelry from my stones, and I do not apologize to my Purist collector friends that just collect them to perhaps oil them and put them on display shelves. I have no issue with simply collecting Lake Superior Agates, but to me, they are beautiful and deserve to be shown off.

I would never make jewelry from a large, super quality Laker, one that is clearly a true collector agate. I try to obtain fracture-free Lakers of smaller sizes, rare colors, patterns, and types.  Classic Candy Stripers are always in demand for jewelry.

In Tucson, several years’ back, I bought a quantity of medium sized “Buckers”.  This is a term Laker collectors give to pocket-sized Lakers, neither large nor small. I like the size of Buckers for jewelry. I can slice them on an 8” saw, and quickly see if there is a piece of jewelry hiding inside.

This Laker is just loaded with floating Quartz Crystals that sparkle as you move the agate under bright lights. I’ve never seen anything like it. Some of these tiny, clear quartz crystals are double terminated and resemble Herkimer Diamonds. I wish I could show you in person because I can’t do justice even in a close up to this inclusion rich agate. I do not have the capability or microscopic photography, but I was able to confirm the Quartz Crystals by using a Corbascope.

What a surprise when I plucked an agate from the bucket full of Lakers I purchased in Tucson. It was a very unusual yellow and orange coloration, it was not the normal banded beauty.  As I cut this agate recently, I found that is was a Tube Agate, with some banding. But, to me, it looked like a Lava Lamp (they were a big thing back in the 60’s). I could watch a Lava Lamp for hours and globs of an unknown substance rose and fell within the globe. I never imagined 50 years later I would find a Laker Lava Lamp. 

Usually my blogs involve several specimens, but this Laker deserved a blog of its’ own. Hope you enjoyed your voyage with me today. Continue the journey by picking your favorite on our Lake Superior Agate Jewelry page.

You might have noticed the new look in our blog. This is part of a major update we recently had done by our web people. Please let me know if you like the changes. We (Snob Appeal Jewelry) apologize for the disruption of our website as changes were made. If you have any problems at all with our new systems, PLEASE, let us know, so we can correct things.