Is your favorite an agate?

People come into the store sometimes and ask, “What’s your favorite?” gesturing to include everything in the store. Many of us in that work here always have such a hard time answering that question quickly because we love all this stuff. We love the fossils, the minerals, the jewelry, the gems, the awesome books. All of it.

Now, we all have different “favorites” in the store. But a couple of us love the agates. Some that we love are the Brazilian agate slices, dyed or natural color, and the cool wind chimes made from them. We love the Botswana agates, Montana agates, moss agates, blue lace agates, crazy lace agates, polka dot agates, Laguna agates, purple lace agates, holley blue agates and the Oregon beach agates.

You can find agates wherever you go. You can be walking on a downtown sidewalk, feel an impulse to look down, do so and see right below an agate between your feet in mid-stride.  Have you ever gone agate hunting? You should try it!

What agates are easy to find?

Carnelian is a form of agate. You can find carnelian all the time. You can find a piece embedded in the concrete of the street in front of your home. 4000 years ago, the ability to find carnelian without trying might have been a moneymaker. But now, in the modern era? Not much more than a hobby. Fun for you but, so what? Right?

Of course it can come in handy if you work at a rock shop, the rock shop in the town where you live, which we all do here at The Fossil Cartel. That’s why most of us are here: because we love the agates and everything else in the store. So, now we’re going to turn the mic on you and ask, what’s your favorite?