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Dwarves' Earth Treasures Museum:
Lake Superior Agates
From Minnoseta
 .
      Here's the famous "Lakers" a short name for Lake Superior Agates well known throughout the Midwest states especially Minnesota where most Lake Superior agates have been found. They also can be found in other states like Wisconsin, Illinonis, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and some states along the Mississippi river. They have formed in a billion years old basaltic lava formations of Lake Superior (all the way to Kansas), and the actual age of agates themselves are not known since they could have formed any time after the solidification of basalt lava beds. If they're that old, I would be quite amazed that they're still intact despite hundreds of millions years of weathering. Those agates are really lucky that they escaped the destructive tectonic forces of the active and everchanging Earth.
    Red, brown, gray, orange and white seem to be most common colors of the Lakers, but they can come in any colors maybe except green. Alternating bold red and white banding seems to be most desirable of any Lakers. There are some basalt outcrops where the agates are found still attached to them amd the agates were scrapped from the basalt hosts of agates and deposited by the glaciers several thousand years ago. As a result, the agates are scattered all over the glacial deposits and along Lake Superior shorelines in the Midwest states and all the way down the Mississippi river. Even so, good sized agates of good quality are hard to find or it could be just that they're gobbled up by just few experienced agate-finders. Let's not ignore those with diverse and interesting types of plume, psuedomorphs and sagenite inclusions also.
    Minnesota seem to have produced better and larger agates than any other Midwest states which may be due to how the glaciers were distributed. The glaciers seem to have flowed southwest along the weaknesses in the agate and copper bearing basalt beds toward Minnesota, picking up the agates as they flow. Once they begin to melt, they leave behind the agate over most of the Minnesota and they can be found in any gravel pits, rivers and beaches.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE LARGER PICTURES

From beaches (tumbled look) From gravel pits (less polished look)
Those found along beaches look like melted, hardened and tumbled wax with crescent-like fractures.
Those from gravel pits look like rotten potatos with pits and crescent fractures, often show bandings.

Banded Types

Unusually bright colors

A favorite of mine. Has some fractures Natural form, not oiled Curvative polished
Natural form, not oiled Curvative polished, unusual colors
Curvative polished Natural form, not oiled From old collection,
Unusual colors strong shadowing effects Rare whole patterned pair!
Unusual colors, Curvative polished Fine banded, strong shadowing effects strong shadowing effects, Curvative polished
Curvative polished Extremely strong shadowing effects I found this "Fish-eye" agate along
Minnesota beach.
With typical fractures
Big Lake Superior Agate
It was polished by its previous owner.

Click on to see the Lake Superior Agates with Inclusions