New From Saxony

Several new specimens have been uploaded to the Saxony section of the gallery – including a few new locations.

First up, two classic rare Saxony locations get upgrades.

Wendishain

 

Minkwitz

Next, the last of the three German kaolin mine locations has been uploaded – Kemmlitz, the most outrageously challenging of all.  I joked that the matrix was like polishing chalk, but that isn’t strictly accurate. It’s more like trying to polish a clump of cat litter! It’s like chalk that has been pounded up and then loosely bonded together with egg white. It’s the most decayed and weathered matrix I have ever seen, even beating that one time I polished a Mooralla thunderegg! Needless to say, a lot of consolidation was needed to get these specimens and they fair turned my hair grey picking up colours from the grinding media! Ah well – at least I can say I gave them my all and that my ordeal was worth it!

Another new location is the extremely rare Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf. Not all thundereggs are big and glamorous. I have a bit of a soft spot for the simple and quiet ones, partly because they include some of the rarest eggs of all – the super-rare kind that you might only come across a few times in your life. Like a small shy sibling of the more familiar German lense-shaped eggs like Zwicau Planitz, this is the only one i have ever seen in the flesh with an actual core.

And lastly, one single new St Egidien that is somewhat unusual.  Both St Egidien Hohenstein Ernstthal need some serious updating soon (i haven’t touched them in years!) – but this single specimen will have to do for now.  This one has a darker matrix than some, almost closer to Hohenstein Ernstthal. It is a St Egidien, however, coming from one part of the deposit with this kind of darker matrix. It’s also exceptionally beautiful, with orbs and a fine lacy band of red amongst quartz crystals.

There will be more coming in the future of course.  The parade of German locations seems endless!  Look out for the rather different Gröppendorf Upper Level, Klosterbuch, Mutzschen,  Schmiedeberg by Dippoldeswalde and Zeithain at some point in the future.

Visit the Germany gallery here.

Pomßen Thunderegg Update

An update to another of the more unusual German locations today – eggs that have been carried far from home and are now unearthed as waterworn pebbles in the Pomßen gravel pit.  Click here for the full gallery (6 specimens).

Rotterode #2 Koppenstein Update

I have just uploaded several new specimens from one of the most unusual of the Thuringia locations – Rotterode #2 Koppenstein.  These are dense, complex and flawed stones showing rich colours and sometimes complex features.  Click here to view the full gallery.