Fairburn Agates. South Dakota's State Gemstone

[PinkDiamond]

The colors and patterns in those things are amazing, and I love the one with the druzy. Nice!

[jakesrocks]

Thanks PD. Here come some more.



Two views, same agate.




Ghost Fairburn.

[jakesrocks]

Just one of the shelves of Fairburns.

[jakesrocks]

Unless I find a few more hidden in an album, these will be it, until I acquire more.









Even the tiny ones can be beautiful.












Sometimes it can be difficult to see the fortifications, but they are there.

[Rockranger]

Seriously again, JRocks. FANTASTIC collection!.....keep them coming. Gives me something to look at during down time at work. lol
Were the 3 in the one pic tumbled or hand sanded?

[jakesrocks]

While I don't condone tumbling Fairburns, (it lowers their collector value), I do have a few in my collection that are tumbled or otherwise polished. Those 3 were given to me by a friend.

[jakesrocks]

There are several other types of agates found in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and the Black Hills of South Dakota. I'll only touch on them briefly.

Park agates from Custer State Park. Now illegal to collect, and can only be obtained from old private collections & estate sales.




Black agate from near Oelrichs, SD.


Who hasn't heard of the TeePee Canyon agate from just west of Custer, SD.


And one from a little known location which I discovered. Lame Johnny agate. From the Lame Johnny Creek road cut, South East of Custer State Park, and barely outside of the park boundries. I only located 2 pieces, but hope to be able to go back & spend more time exploring the road cut.


There are many more named types of agates from the S.W corner of South Dakota, N.W. Nebraska and N.E. Wyoming. Fairburns can be found over the whole area, but you'll walk many miles & turn over tons of rocks to find 1 or 2.

[kjsspot]

ohhhhhh I LOVE that frog skinned one with the cavity. Drool

[crazy8s]

Amazing collection Who knew there were so many.

[jakesrocks]

Found a couple more pics hidden away. These next 2 were stolen from a friends display case. With the power of the internet and good friends, she had her agates back within a week. Doesn't pay to steal and try to sell Fairburns. We're a tight knit community.