Agate Want To Be Minerals

In the past for blog postings I have used close up crops from pictures in my book agates Inside Out. Today I decided to crop the photos included in the book of some of the agate-want-to-be minerals. After operating the museum for the past thirteen years and interacting with thousands of people, I have seen the dissappointment when I honestly report that people have found an agate-want-to-be. Although I know that everyone is in search of the elusive agate, perhaps we should all appreciate  the other minerals a bit more.

Please enjoy some of the incredible and beautiful detail of a few agate-want-to-be minerals.  Notice that some of the specimens do have sections with agate banding. 

First -- Australian Tiger Eye.

Petrified palm root from Louisiana.

Fossil reeds from Michigan.

Mary Ellen Jasper from Minnesota.

Poppy Seed Jasper from California.

Fossil Ammonite from Madagascar.

Fossil Red Horn Coral from Utah.

Fossil dinosaur bone from Utah.

Binghamite from Minnesota.

Fordite from Michigan.  For those of you who do not know -- this is actual paint residue from a car factory paint booth.  I have actually seen pendants made from this material for sale at shows and labeled "agate."

Onyx from Mexico.

Rhodochrosite from Argentina.