Agate

[lyle11]

When I was a kid, my father liked to go to gravel pits and look for rocks which we called agates. Technically, I’m not sure if this is an agate or not, but it has interesting parallel lines and colors that will come out if polished. Not sure if they still have them now, but they used to have gem and rock shows where people would display and sell their jewelry and other creations made from polished and unpolished rocks.

I wasn’t really into it, but one day while just goofing around, I found this rock 1/4 mile from our farm near a creek bed. It is roughly 4” long. At least four times bigger than anything my father ever found. We took it to a gem and rock show and a guy offered me $10, which was back in the early 70s. I would have happily sold it but, my Pa quickly told him I didn’t want to sell it.

For some odd reason, it popped into my mind the other day and I was not sure I still had it. I found it in a box yesterday when I was looking for something else. It’s one of the few things I’ve managed to hang onto for almost 50 years. But, short of taking a sledgehammer to it, it’s pretty indestructible.

 

[Donegal Cub]

When I was a kid, my father liked to go to gravel pits and look for rocks which we called agates. Technically, I’m not sure if this is an agate or not, but it has interesting parallel lines and colors that will come out if polished. Not sure if they still have them now, but they used to have gem and rock shows where people would display and sell their jewelry and other creations made from polished and unpolished rocks.

I wasn’t really into it, but one day while just goofing around, I found this rock 1/4 mile from our farm near a creek bed. It is roughly 4” long. At least four times bigger than anything my father ever found. We took it to a gem and rock show and a guy offered me $10, which was back in the early 70s. I would have happily sold it but, my Pa quickly told him I didn’t want to sell it.

For some odd reason, it popped into my mind the other day and I was not sure I still had it. I found it in a box yesterday when I was looking for something else. It’s one of the few things I’ve managed to hang onto for almost 50 years. But, short of taking a sledgehammer to it, it’s pretty indestructible.
Yep that's a pretty one too, There are a lot of these type of stones on the west coast of Ireland on the beaches washed up by the Atlantic ocean.
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[Stanton]

When I was a kid, my father liked to go to gravel pits and look for rocks which we called agates...

When I was a kid, my family lived in NE MO. Paternal grandfather worked one summer at a gravel strip pit, not far from the Mississippi River. We'd visit and collect "aggies" (i.e. agates). Ours were much smaller, about the size of a pea up to a dime. If I saw yours when I was a kid, I'd say that's a BIG aggie!!

 

[Eugene]

Not sure if they still have them now, but they used to have gem and rock shows where people would display and sell their jewelry and other creations made from polished and unpolished rocks.

They still have them.

Wikipedia.
"Prospectors. No. of seasons 4. The Weather Channel.
Prospectors is a weekly American reality television series that premiered on March 26, 2013 on The Weather Channel. The show follows miners in the Colorado Rocky Mountains as they look for precious metals and gems."

The families who collected semi-precious stones, usually topaz, in the program either sold the stones or cut, polished, and manufactured jewelry for sale at very large conventions.

There were other tv shows where individuals would collect and sell semi-precious stones.