.	Dwarves' Earth Treasures Museum: Rockhound State Park Thundereggs Rockhound State Park, Deming, Luna Co., New Mexico	.

Contrary to what the visitors may have said anything bad about the Rockhound State Park, the thundereggs, opal, and jasper still can be found in that park. It's always a favorite place for me to stop, camp out, and set up a "rockhounding operation base" because of a number of collecting sites nearby. There is a specific place in the Rockhound State Park where you can find any thundereggs (Click on to see the Picture), but you would have to walk quite a way up there, and do some digging (or working hard to chisel the eggs out of weathered but hard tan pertile). When you do get there, just look for any mine tailings where people had been digging, and search thru the tailings to find what diggers missed. You can stop by Paul "The Geode Kid" Colburn's rock shop on the way to Rockhound State Park for more info.

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	That is what a thunderegg looks like when it's embedden in the tan weathered pertile lava rock host. The only obvious sign of the thunderegg was the glassylike brown spot, a characteristic color of the thunderegg.
	Now it's just a matter of spending some time chiseling the pertile rock off the thunderegg. This picture is taken just before it was chiseled loose. Since the waterline agate/opal are common in the thundereggs, I marked where the top is for purpose of keeping it upright while cutting it with the diamond-toothed saw.
	Voila! This is what the inside of a thunderegg looks like after it had been cut and dry-polished. This particular thunderegg is a "Tillage" thunderegg which a waterline band is tilted at an angle in respect to the lower (and older) waterline bands. Such tillage demonstrated a tectonic activity (faulting) during its formation as well as the fact that the agate and opals were formed in steps (seasonally), not at once. They're quite useful as a geological tool. That is why it is advised that any thunderggs be marked on their tops before they were removed from their host rocks for best results... The other pair ended up missing (lost? stolen?)... :( *sniff*
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YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE LARGER PICTURES

Rough Appearance: Brown thundereggs caked with orange to yellowish tan weathered pertile.
Tend to be hollow with white opal layers at the bottom, agate are typically clear sometimes with some blue to black tints.
Can be confused with those coming from NeverAgain Mine which is just south of Rockhound Park.
But thje rough from Rockhound Park is far mor likely to be encountered.

Typical "Waterline" thundereggs.  May 2002	Bluish agate, reddish jasper and tan opal,  March 2002
Reddish jasper, white opal and bluish agate, May 2002	"Japanese Mediation Thunderegg" May 2002
Typical bluish agate in the thunderegg March 2003	Typical black to bluish agate in the thunderegg with "Tillage Agate" features March 2003
Rare yellowish tint to it, March 2007	March 2009

Jasper thunderegg with rare "egg-like" patterns
March 2007