South Dakota Rockhound

Other Agates and Jaspers

This page is devoted to jaspers and miscellaneous oddball pieces that I just don't know how to label. There's such an incredible variety of material you find in the same location on the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands (where pretty much everything on this page was found). I'm not sure whether to call some of these pieces agates, jaspers, or something else. Some beautiful pieces though! If you have any thoughts on a specific label for some of these, let me know!!

Click on any of the images below for a larger view

Other Agates and Jaspers


"Pepperoni Pizza" - What I'd call a button agate, or perhaps a bubblegum with the nodules worn down a bit. A one of a kind piece, and one of my all-time favorites.	"Rusty Bolt" - Gorgeous reddish patterns in the main stone itself, but the rusty "bolt" across the stone really sets it apart.	"Butterfly" - So named because when I posted a photo someone thought it looked like a butterfly wing. No idea what to call this...jasper, agatized wood (with the grain?)...don't know.

"Cracked Jasper" - Definite one-of-a-kind piece for us, with an incredible black and red pattern on one side.	"Rusty Agate" - The underlying parts have some typical patterns and colors like a prairie agate, but the dark streaks set it apart. Not sure if you can still call it a prairie agate.	"Easy Chair" - Not sure how to categorize this, but it's got a beautiful pattern around what was obviously once a central nodule.

"Half-blood" - A unique stone for us, with a even split between the clearer quartz with reddish inclusions on the right, and a more solid blood-red on the left.	"Gray Lady" - A neat little jasper, with some intricate gray-toned patterns interspersed with splashes of red.	"Rainbow Agate" - More variety of color in one stone than most pieces I've ever found, this may "just" be an exceptional prairie agate.

"Scrambled Egg" - About the size of an egg, it looks like a scrambled mess of agatized material.	"Red Mossy" - Some pieces are spectacular at any scale. Gorgeous when viewing the whole stone, a whole new world of patterns opens up when you look at this one with a loupe.	"Red Mossy Jr."- A bit smaller than the piece on the left, this one has some of the same fine-scale mossy patterns in the red as the piece to the left.

"Green Mossy" - Not exactly the same pattern as the 'Red Mossy" jaspers above, but the texture of the "green moss" on this one is quite similar.	"Mottled Agate" - Agate, jasper...don't know, but I do love the warm tones and soft, indistinct mottling.	"Giraffe" - Weirdly patterned little piece, reminded me a bit of the pattern of a giraffe or leopard!

"Whatchamacallit"- Nowhere close to the pattern of all the prairie or bubblegum agates I find, but still "agate-like" to me. Agate...jasper...still struggling to put labels on many pieces like this!	"Dakota Van Gogh"- Swirly, dreamy patterns in reds instead of blues...what Van Gogh might have painted had he painted South Dakota agates!!	"