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Thundereggs from Germany

From your first encounter with them, it is apparent that there is something significant about the German thundereggs. They almost rival those of Oregon in their diversity and substance, producing some very impressive world-class rocks. They have a warmth and glowing beauty all their own - often with a pale and fine-grained matrix or fine banding agate forming atolls, crescents and elongated fissures rather than broad pools.

However, it is also apparent that there is something different in the air in Germany. There is something a little shadowy and difficult about it. German thundereggs are never quite as easy to find as you think they should be when you realize how prevalent they are in the country - and information about them is even rarer. It wasn't until quite recently that I found out why that was, when someone informed me that the collecting of German agates is actually forbidden in a very large number of places. Partly it is because the sites are within nature reserves, partly because they are on private land. Then again, insurance causes problems with digging in quarries. Sites are built over. Etc etc. Some options remain open of course - such as gravel pits. But even so, the extent of the problem was quite a shock after I had developed such a sense of the significance of these stones. Of course, the same is true in Oregon to a smaller extent, with many beds locked away in wilderness areas etc, but Germany seems to have taken that to an extreme degree and, in the process, seems to have has applied a bit of a stranglehold to the thunderegg world there, preventing it from becoming another Oregon. I suppose that is partly a reflection on the way things work in Europe - a nest of regulations and fences without much room for digging holes!

Of course, people do still collect them from forbidden sites. There can be little doubt. When there’s something that is really important to you, your conscience does tend to find its own way round external barriers. As Stephen King once said – if they outlawed stamp collecting, it wouldn't’t stop the stamp collectors, it would just mean that they would hide their stamps at the bottom of the cistern and gloat over them after dark! But it does sometimes add a sense of the underground and even of danger to the German thundereggs. They come with a vagueness and a silence that is very different to Oregon. Instead of the fun sense of thundereggs sitting on their pedestal that you get there - with collectors enthusiastically chatting about 'rough' and their many expeditions into the wilderness - here, there can be a very different dynamic going on. Sometimes German rockhounds can be reserved with their information. Where and when rocks were found is glossed over in ways that would cause an Oregon collector alarm. Specimens are reduced to a vague 'old stock' from vague locations - or even deliberately mis-identified.

All this makes this page only more important. These thundereggs are of immense importance and info concerning them should be available. I have a special fondness for German stones myself and I pay special attention to them in my collecting. I intend to use this page to present whatever limited information I can gather on them and their sites, forbidden or otherwise.

 
Baden Würtemberg
   

 

Baden Baden Thundereggs

Baden Baden Thundereggs are one of those cluster locations that are often distrubuted under just the general name. Here though, I have managed to present them with the sublocations. Often very similar, it is uncertain how easy it will be to ID specimens from this gallery.

 
Baden Baden Waldeneck Thundereggs
Baden Baden - Waldeneck
 
Baden Baden - Gewann Maria Halde
 
baden_baden_Geroldsau-Klosterl01a
Baden Baden - Geroldsau - Klösterle
 
Baden Baden - Gravel Pit
 
Baden Baden - Gunzenbach
 
Baden Baden Rappenhalde Thundereggs
Baden Baden - Rappenhalde
 
baden baden SWF Thundereggs
Baden Baden - SWF (Radiostation)
 
Herrschenbach Thundereggs
Baden Baden - Herrschenbach
 
An der Lache
Baden Baden - An der Lache
Geisberg Thundereggs
Geisberg
Gengenbach
Haigerachertal Thundereggs
Haigerachertal
   
 

Lierbachtal, Schwarzwald (Black Forest)

The vast majority of Lierbachtals come without any specific identification of the sublocation, and telling beds apart is very hard indeed. However, I have been lucky enough to get my specimens classified by experts and I present them below with full classification into sublocations. However, a few things to note. Given the complexity of the area, I would be reluctant to take even these classifications as gospel. And also, they are going to be of limited use for identification purposes. Exactly how the experts tell them apart is beyond me and I take my hat off to them with awed respect - but for me at least, there seems more more variation within the beds than between them.

 
Lierbachtal - Rothenbächle
 
Lierbachtal - Holzplatz
Lierbachtal - Holzplatz
 
Lierbachtal-Eckenfels
Lierbachtal - Eckenfels
 
Lierbachtal - Steinbruch Hauskopf
 
lierbachtal-Niedermättle
Lierbachtal - Niedermättle
 
Niedermättle Road Construction
 
Lierbachtal-Hochebene
Lierbachtal - Hochebene
 
Road Construction between Niedermättle and Hochebene
 
Lierbachtal - Hutteneck
 
Lierbachtal - Rare No Name
 
Wendeplatz or Buchwald
Lierbachtal - Wendeplatz or Buchwald
 
Lierbachtal - Ofersbach or Froschbächle
 
Lierbachtal - Unclassified
Bavaria
 
Hartkoppe Thunderegg
Sailauf - Hartkoppe
 
Sailauf - Rehberg
 
Unterwappenöst Thundereggs
Unterwappenöst
 
Kornberg Thundereggs
Kornberg (Bavaria)
divider
Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
 
Albaum Thundereggs
Albaum - Brennhardt
 
Wingeshausen - Various Locations
 
Wingeshausen Bilsburg Thunderegg
Wingeshausen - Bilsburg
 
Bergisches Land
Saarland
 
Teufelskanzel

Oberthal - Leistberg / Teufelskanzel / Devil's Pulpit

 
Rotelpfad Thundereggs
Oberthal - Rötelpfad
Sachsen (Saxony)
 
St Egidien Thundereggs

St. Egidien

 
Hohenstein

Hohenstein Ernstthal

 
Fuchsgrund
 
Rusdorf Lens
Rüsdorf Lens Occurrence
 
Rusdorf wald
Rüsdorf Wald
 
Zwickau

Zwickau - Planitz

 
Schedewitz Thunderegg
Zwickau -Schedewitz
 
Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf
 
Burgstall Thundereggs
Burgstall
 
FBWN Leisnig Area (Official Name Coming Soon)
 
wendishain thundereggs
Wendishain
 
Wendishain Pitchstone
 
Wendishain Lauschka
 
Queckhain
 
Bockwitz
 
Minkwitz (Nodule Form)
 
Minkwitz Thundereggs
Minkwitz (Vein Agate Form)
 
Tautendorf
 
Hausdorf
 
Maaschwitz
 
Gröppendorf Kaolin Mine
 
Querbitzsch Kaolin Mine
 
Kemmlitz Kaolin Mine
 
 Mügeln
 
Börtewitz
 
Zscheitzsch Gravel Pit
 
Seilitz Kaolin Mine
 
bockelwitz thunderegg
Bockelwitz Gravel Pit
 
Pomssen Pomßen
Pomßen Gravel Pit
 
Kleinpösna Gravel Pit
 
Otterwisch Thundereggs
Otterwisch Gravel Pit
 
Hirschfeld Gravel Pit
 
Zeithain Gravel Pit
 
Mulde River
 
Ochsendrehe
 
Altenberg Thundereggs
Schmiedeberg by Dippoldeswalde
 
Mutzschen
 
Sermuth
Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)
 
Ravensberg, Bad Sachsa
 
Bad Sachsa
Bad Sachsa
 
Wieda Thundereggs
Wieda
Thüringen (Thuringia)
 
Gehlberg

Gehlberg/Felsenschlag, Thuringia

 
Felsenschlag new hole thundereggs
Langer Rain / Felsenschlag New Hole
 
Sunja's Bank Thundereggs
Sunja's Bank
 
Frieda (Thuringia)
 
Hölle
Hölle (Gehlberg)
 
Schmücke
Schmücke
 
Rotterrode
Rotterrode #1
 
Rotterode 2 Thundereggs
Rotterode #2 / Koppenstein
 
rotterode 3 gasberg thundereggs
Rotterode #3 / Gasberg
 
Rotterode #3 / New Spot
 
Brand
Brand
 
Dörrkopf Thundereggs
Dörrkopf
 
Eisquelle
 
Köpfchen Thunderegg
Köpfchen
 

Steinbach-Hallenberg

 
Harzwald Thunderegg
Harzwald
 
Altersbach
Altersbach
 
Gottlob
Friedrichroda - Gottlob
 

Friedrichroda - Körnberg (Thuringia)

 
Kugelacker
 
Drusenborn Thundereggs
Drusenborn
 
Georgenthal Thundereggs

Georgenthal

 
Hirschberg Thunderegg
Hirschberg
 
Gabelung D Thundereggs
Gabelung D
 
Oberhof
 
Oberhof - Berghotel
 
Schmalkalden
 
Komberg
 
Brandtkopf Thunderegg
Friedrichroda - Brandtkopf
 
Hedda's Cross
Friedrichroda - Hedda's Cross
 
Heuberg
Friedrichroda - Heuberg (Inc. New Location)
 
seebackfelsen
Friedrichroda - Seebachsfelsen
 
Erfurt Gravel Pit
 
Spießberg Thunderegg
Friedrichroda - Spießberg
 
The Rennsteig Path
 
Friedrichroda - Spießberg (Rennsteig - unnamed Location)
 
Friedrichroda - Spießberg (Unnamed Location)
 
Friedrichroda - Spießberg ('Rote Linie')
 
Monchstal

Luisenthal - Mönchstal

 
Hölle Münzberg
Luisenthal - Hölle / Münzberg
 
Asbach Wash Thunderegg
Asbach Wash
 
Lippers
 
Wasch
 
Rosenkopf
 
Baumgartental
Baumgartental #1, East Side
 
Baumgartental Bed 2 Thunderegg
Baumgartental #2, West Side
 
Ruhla
Ruhla
 
Meisenstein
Meisenstein
 
Manebach
 
Arlesberg
Arlesberg
 
nesselhof

Nesselhof

 
Nesselhof: Glasberg
 
Kniebreche
Kniebreche, Thuringia

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