Dwarves' Earth Treasures Museum: Round Mtn. "Pink" Agates
Foothills of Round Mtn and Engine Mtn, south of Duncan,
Arizona
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AThe
Round Mountain BLM Rockhound area is actually better known for its Fire
Agates and as a result, there are scarce mentions of "pink agates" coming
from the area in most books. After having obtained some "Pink Agate" rough,
research and explorations had been carried in an attempt to locate the
exact source of the pink agates somewhere at the eastern foothills of Engine/Round
Mountains south of Duncan, just off the Az/NM border. The basalt beds are
quite widespread, all the way to Black Hills and Mulligan Peak and many
locations along the basalt beds are rich in chalcedony (pink, white, brown,
yellow) with some coming with "Fire Agates" features. As of March 2009,
the site finally has been located where I have found four pink agates and
continued to find some more afterward.
The agates are typically clear
to white often with "waterlines" features and a small percentage of those
agates will produce varying pink to lavendar colors. The interesting feature
of those agates is that each band of the agates are not solid, but instead,
heavily dotted (or spherical in some cases). Some agates with black, orange,
yellow and red plumes had been found there. Some agates are found looking
like as if they had been dyed pink. Very few agates are found with plume
inclusions.
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Rough Appearance: Very smooth surface with tiny pits all over.
Pinkish hue, will show "waterlines" through the skin.
Dotted white to pink agate is a dead giveaway.
Most desired type of "Pink Agate"
My first find and it was in the road. Tight banded
Typical gray to white waterline agate
Small percentage of Duncan agates come with pink color.