Teepee Canyon Agate

All through the 70's there were several mines operating in the western part of the Black Hills of South Dakota mining this awesome agate. This is hard mining at it's toughest. The nodules are embedded in the hard limestone.Through the 80's and most of the 90's the claims brought out less and less nodules until the owners finally retired and abandoned the claims. Over the years people have surface collected in the old dig spoils in the area. Years ago the area was completely destroyed when a forest fire ravaged the site. Not long after new outcrops of the agate were located in a large radius from the original digs. With that said, it is still hard to find good material that's not blasted out and fractured from the way it's mined rough. This is a wonderful piece you won't have any problems with cracks on the prize agate pattern area.-WET pic.-(3"x 3"/2.2 oz./6mm thick) no fractures....solid to cut