What I don’t get is, “How did my dad know?”
A few weeks ago, Pennsylvania Ken ordered some rocks from me. Because Ken’s a great guy and there was room in the box, I included a few free ones. (My policy here is, “Once I include the rocks you paid for, whatever else is in the package is up to me.”)
One was really strange.
Here’s exactly what I wrote to Ken.
I know it came with my dad’s other rocks so I thought it must be something. But it looked like nothing. So I bashed it a few times with a rock hammer to see what was inside. You [Ken] now have the remaining chunk. In the center, there is this unique brown banding. It actually looks nice to me. I admit that most of the rock is garbage, but I’m wondering if the rock will polish and if the banding in the middle could be worked into a cab.
Hey! It’s free! At a minimum, it could be a killer door stop.
What you can’t see is that the spot of banding I exposed with my rock hammer was really tiny. I actually felt a little guilty sending it to Ken. The rock ALMOST got tossed into Surprise Wash.
Ken wrote back (With the pictures I’m using here.) …
Decided it was time to reveal its secrets. Quite a surprise! Got any more uglys?
Now I know what to do with all the ugly rocks that I know nobody will order.
I’LL SEND ‘EM TO KEN!
Addendum: 27 August 2024
Steve, a fantantic rockhound in Utah and someone who knew my dad, identified the rock! He said it's a piece of "Dryhead Agate". That's Rare Stuff! I can't recall seeing another piece in my dad's collection. The piece pictured below is an example of what this type of rock is going for these days.
Dryhead is found in Montana. I can't recall my dad going after that type of rock specifically, but he didn't check in with me for every rock trip so maybe he did collect it himself. Or maybe he traded for it.
I'm glad a great guy like Ken won the jackpot! This is why I created KinesavaROCKS.
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