I appreciate your agates with inclusions site. I enjoy digging and sharing a good campfire.įor more information on agate formation and collecting areas, see my book at: I love to exchange ideas on hunting, cutting, and displaying. I very much like to trade material and will trade agate hunting locations. A very small quantity of agates are exceptional.Īs a collector, I actively buy and sell quality material. Unlike banded agate which often gives the cutter multiple quality slabs, we seldom get more than one outstanding cut per rock with plume or sagenite.Īs a collector, I am very selective in what I pick up in the field and still less than 5% of what I cut goes in my display case. The thrill of finding a quality agate in the field is only topped by making that perfect, often lucky cut in the saw. Some of my favorite agates have complete fortifications next to inclusions. Banded agate apparently forms at a different time. My belief is that sagenite and plume are formed in silica gel after the gel fills or partially fills the cavity. I have not yet seen plumes or sagenite needles penetrate bands in agate. It is based on examining several thousand specimens. Multicolor plumes appear to be more common than multicolor sagenitic sprays. I have found sagenite in or near moss only a few times. Plume and moss are often associated together. In very rare instances, plume and sagenite are found in the same rock. Plume and moss inclusions grow outside the gel as well.
If sagenite inclusions grow outside of the gel, the tops of the needles resemble a pin cushion. The inclusions grow and are supported by this liquid medium. The oxide minerals grow in the agate when it is in a liquid or gelatinous state.
Inclusions occur where iron oxide, manganese oxide, or other oxides are present when the agate is formed.
I have plume from over a hundred agate fields in my collection. If they are present and conditions are right, the inclusions form. The oxides which form plume and other inclusions are quite common. Many collectors know of Priday Plume, Graveyard Point, Del Norte (Colorado), West Texas, and Mexican Plume. Plume is surprisingly more common than most of us might believe. Those few agate fields that have a higher incidence of sagenite offer a rare and exciting treat to the collector. With the exception of a small number of fields, probably less than five percent of the available agate at fields I’ve been to is sagenitic. It is impossible to say today what percentage of the original deposits was sagenitic, but in the hundred or so agate fields I have been to, a very small percentage of the agate has sagenitic inclusions. My belief is that at least a little sagenite can be found at most agate fields. I have identified sagenite from over 250 different agate deposits worldwide. The main focus here is on sagenite and plume agate. Moss is the most common type of inclusion in agate. Moss agate comes in many colors and is often green. When inclusions in agate are random in pattern, often creating the appearance of seaweed or moss, we have moss agate. Dendrites may also occur in limestone, talc, and sandstone, and in beryl, corundum, and other minerals. Often dendrites form between flat “waterline” bands of agate. Colors may vary as in sagenite.ĭendritic agate has thin, two-dimentional, treelike growths, usually black or dark brown, as is the case with Montana Agate. Sometimes plume agate inclusions resemble feathers, plants, or flowers. Plume agate has fluffy inclusions which often appear to be soft and have depth. The inclusions come in a wide array of colors. These hair like filaments are often arranged in fans or sunbursts. Sagenite, or more accurately, sagenitic agate is any agate having acicular or needle-like mineral growths. A description of each of these most common types of inclusions is important here. These inclusions may be sagenitic (sagenite), plume, dendritic, or moss. Agates with inclusions are some of the rarest and most beautiful agates in the world.
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