Origin: The Central District in the Bobonong area, in north-east along the Motloutse River, and in the Serowe area south-west of Bobonong, Botswana, Africa Chemical Composition: SiO2.nH2O Description: This is an incredibly difficult stone to buy as rough because the government has imposed a ban on export of the rough.Doing so stimulates the local economy because it must be cut and polished in the country before it is exported.There was only one year the ban was lifted, decades ago, and that's when these stones came out. They have been in storage, on a farm ever since a container came out that year. I was able to get some from the cache, and am now offering it here. Grade: Semi Precious Appearance: TranslucentInclusionsCracks: Some (disguised by rind so almost always impossible to see until cutting. id say about 1/3 of the agates are crack free. others have one or two cracks each.Mineral: They are agate nodules, so sometimes they are filled with quartz and agate, other times solid agate. Size range: Medium, approximately all the size of a mandarin orange to the size of a hardball (baseball). Rough is rough. We do our best to grade and describe pieces in the lot, but ultimately, they all differ.
