All Agates are handpicked by Renè Boissevain and his wife
Nelleke in the rugged outback of North Queensland in 1969. Living
in tents and using only a shovel and a pick axe and being pestered
by millions of flies they soon had a nice stockpile of Agate Creek
Agates. These agates being flown to the Netherlands to be sold
in Renè's Museum 'De Oude Aarde' -which means 'the old
earth'.
Limited amounts made it back to Australia and have been left alone
for many years due to Renè's and Nelleke's committment
to their new business venture - The
Crystal Caves and Fascinating Facets - an underground adventure
museum with minerals and fossils to touch and the shop above it
that sells gemstones, jewlery and many novelity gift ideas.
Now finally Renè has time to cut the agates in half and
reveal the tremendous variety of patterns and diversity of colors
that makes the Agate Creek Agates the most sought after
amongst collectors worldwide.
Each Agate is cut in half with a diamond saw and -if good enough
to process further- then polished. A paste of 80 grit silicon
carbide is smeared on and the agate half is than pushed down by
hand onto the plate moving it back and forward...The process is
followed up using the same method with grit nr 220, than 600 and
the final polish with tin oxide which results in a smooth and
shiny surface.
You can be sure that you receive an unique piece of earth made
art - some 40 million years in the making
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