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As collecting hobbies go - and rock collecting hobbies in particular - collecting thundereggs is a relatively cheap and approachable one. A whole box-ful of them imported from the US to spread the postage costs can still not break the bank excessively. And if you can polish them yourself, it is even cheaper. There are exceptions of course. Some of the top quality european thundereggs can range up over £100, but even so, prices can be somewhat irrational in this world. An example is the large St Egidien eggs from Germany. I had been looking with hungry eyes at a beautifully medium, elongated specimen. Price £30. For me, that is quite an outgoing for a single egg. But of course, no sooner did i see that, than two more of these beautiful medium pieces appeared on ebay and I grabbed them for less that a fiver each from Germany - here and here. So basically, the cheapest way to go about this is to wait and watch and then grab things as they appear, rather than searching for specific items.
No doubt the best resource for thundereggs is eBay, where there are many sellers offering them, often at quite approachable prices. Not surprisingly, most most American thundereggs will come from America and most european ones from Europe! (Search for 'Achat') etc. Only a few of my eggs ever came from british sellers. For some reason the British seem to lag sorely behind the american and european counterparts in many aspects of rock collecting.
Some more advanced info on Thundereggs
The Formation of Thundereggs
by
Robert Colburn
Places to buy Thundereggs
There are some online shops other than ebay though, which are very good places to get these beautiful stones and i list them below. These are all dealers i have worked with and know to be excellent.
A US dealer specializing in the beautiful Baker thundereggs.
US shop offering thundereggs from a wide variety of locations - mostly Oregon, but he has a healthy international section as well. He has some quite exceptional and unusual ones. The prices are approachable and he's a good dealer to work with.
A US site offering many different USA thundereggs, including some real beauties. They are also one of the more active eBay dealers in approachably priced thundereggs.
www.rayer-minerals.com is a european shop with a wide selection of very beautiful Thundereggs, agates and types that sit on the fence between them (if that's possible!). There are specimens here from all over the world, but it is the european varieties that attracted my interest - such as the Esterel, St Egidien, Nowy Kosciol and many others.
And also, here are some links to other image collections and personal web pages:
The homepage of Robert M.B. de Jager
Has a good selection of french and german specimens, as well as some beautiful agate nodules. I especially love the page of Esterels!
The Homepage of Takehiro Touge
Includes some very nice agates from around the world - including some specimens from Japan.
A nicely laid out gallery of Argentinean agates including some thundereggs.
A site containing a nice selection of good agate pictures from Argentina
