And far more likely to get you in trouble than a handful of illicit rocks from a National Park. Fairburn agate is used in a few different ways but the most popular is the finding and collecting of the nodules in South Dakota. $1,000. Fairburn Agates are hard to find! You can slice the end off of the nodule with a diamond saw and then polish the face to reveal the vibrant colors and tight banding. The majority of average-quality, standard agates are relatively cheap and their price is actually based more on the labor costs and appearance rather than the material, which is often sold by weight. People had just kind of given up. The Fairburn, which is also the state gemstone, is what scientists call a fortification agate. the nodules. Instead, the majority of them end up as specimen pieces with either one face polished or just a bit of cleaning depending on the surface consistency of the individual stone. Brick-red, $165.00. It was less than an inch long most likely a fragment from a much larger agate but there was no mistaking that it was a Fairburn. That said, the defining features of Fairburn Agates are the fortification pattern and locality where the stone is found. Fairburn Agate for sale | eBay There is a little bit of controversy about what makes up these agates, which fall into the Fairburn category, and where they can be found. Its also important to watch for rattlesnakes that occasionally come out to sun themselves on the rocky ground. However, that occurs more typically in metamorphic or volcanic rocks. Agate is a generic term for a range of banded natural stone that comes in many different colors and patterns. The Luckiest Rockhound - South Dakota Magazine Fairburn agate hunting continues to evolve. A small 1-2 inch tumbled agate (snakeskin agate, sardonyx, blue lace agate, tree agate, Botswana agate, etc.) A bubble of water that has been trapped inside the rock for about 200 million years can be found in the center of this little, greyish-stone lump, which makes it both incredibly uncommon and intriguing. I just happened to turn over the right rock., Today, Clark has around 1,000 Fairburn agates in his collection, and hes bought and sold many more. Fairburns are similar in appearance to many Mexican agates, but have a tendency to less transparency, especially in the matrix or non-banded part of the nodule, which is usually very jaspery. Due to its popularity, I decided to do an in-depth write-up on what makes it unique and how fairburn agates differ from prairie agate. core color of the agate. Tumbled agate is automatically more expensive than raw agate and those with very vibrant colors, fine bands or are found in one place only also cost more. learning. Required fields are marked *. As with fine crystal mineral specimens, it is considered something of a sacrilege to cut up the fine quality ones for jewelry. Bahr had told us what to look for in the matrix that brownish-gray outer shell but the rocks began to look alike. Pink and He was very clear that the agates had all been picked up, Clark recalls. They were gone. Ethically Sourced Minerals. Face polishing is my preferred method of keeping raw agate nodules. The area was full of steep hills which helped us get away. But do you know how these beautiful rocks are formed? Thunder Egg. Name: The name is derived from its occurrence at the Achates River in southwestern Sicily. Some collectors, including Roger, are still By 1998, hed accumulated enough knowledge to present his own Fairburn agate origin story in a book called South Dakotas Fairburn Agate, which includes diagrams and beautiful agate photography by his wife, Mary Jane. He knew immediately that he had to find one. It is only found in the Black Hills and surrounding badlands and grasslands of southwest South Dakota and northwest Nebraska. Our tools for the day were simple: a three-tined garden fork and a spray bottle of water. The Fairburn Agate are the most coveted of all agates due to their colorful banding and rarity. The majority of larger specimens should be kept this way if youre planning on resale at some point. 920-246-9847. "Agate Banded 750 pix" by Adrian Pingstone. Fairburn Agates are a specific variety of banded chalcedony that show up in South Dakota and Nebraska. Most agates are cheap ($1 $10), but some can be very expensive ($100 $3000) depending on their type, colors, and the location where they were found. If you ever want to see some of my rocks just let me know and I can email you the pages from my rock finder app for Rock Identifier app trust me I try to prove that thing wrong I million times every time I find something. Good unpolished specimens also tend to fetch the highest prices.Some collectors who prefer unpolished are very adamant about their viewpoint. For instance, if we go off the 79 as described above you have two very near jurisdictions to deal with. Fairburns which have a water-worn and natural patina are usually left alone, but some of the ones that haven't weathered very far from their origin (such as some of the Wyoming agates) are often rough and sometimes show ugly limey coatings and can often be improved by lapidary, acid cleaning, or air abrasive procedures. June wrote several books, more than 1,000 magazine articles and served as an assistant editor of Lapidary Journal, a periodical devoted to mineralogy. Do Rocks Have DNA? Their distinctive pattern is what identifies Fairburn Agate from the other jaspers, agates, and various forms of silica that litter the prairies. Posted on Published: October 4, 2020- Last updated: July 26, 2022. Now, as we scraped, kicked and dug our way up and down the hills, turning as many rocks as we could, hoping to see the bright colors and banding, Bahr simply said, If you have to ask if its a Fairburn, its not.. A "regular" Fairburn can be worth $5-50, and better specimens worth much more. Some collectors in fact limit their collection to unpolished and/or full-faced pieces. Colorado Columbine Blue Agate. The agate bed is 12 miles east of the town. For that reason, they arent popular as jewelry stones, and even tumbling can sometimes be considered destructive. Most geologists believe the agates were formed in the Minnelusa Formation in the Black Hills and then . 7 Rarest Stones in the World We at SUPERAGATES.com are dedicated to bringing you some of the finest agates at a reasonable price. 9 Largest Pearls Ever Found Still did not find the answer to your answers about agates value? common jaspers and jasp-agates they occur with. The most expensive Fairburn agate on records sold for about $13,000. (or did) outcrop other places (other than the So. Fake Agate: You Should Know These 7 Differences, Where to Rockhound in Wyoming & What You Can Find. I am a Navy seal that room and was wondering if you could possibly give a new rockhound some pointers. varieties of Fairburns, in the sense that they all originated in the Minnelusa The brightness/intensity of the colors is also very important. The best source is buying old estates (if you can afford it and are at the right place at the right time), or from the small steady output available from Native Americans. Iris Agate, which is thought to be the most expensive variety of agate, is a banded agate that, if light were not shining directly on it, would initially appear to be a typical stone. Why do so many people flock to South Dakota to search for these rocks? The experience not only created a memorable first date, but it launched June on a completely new trajectory and introduced her to a hobby that occupied much of her life.