Scott Hartwick from New Zealand, a passionate collector of agate visited me in the early summer of 2013. To give him the opportunity to be able to gather agates, also in our region, we ( Ruedi Lüssi from the Switzerland was also part of the game) made a trip to Rhinehessia. The road cut at the ”Berich” so far consistently delivered small, up 2 cm large, colorful nodules due to strong erosion and should therefore be our first destination.

After about 15 minutes, we found a small area (with the capacity of approximately 1 m ³) at the southeastern end of the outcrop, which contained slightly larger agate nodules. It was an extraordinary rich concentration of stained-colored and interesting structured agates.

For one, we found carbonatic veins, occasionally containing agate pseudomorphs after laminated minerals. (32, 43, 45, 46). In nodules Pseudomorphs, found only rarely (52). Furthermore we found very interesting "limbcasts" together with petrified wood in the middle of the andesite (s.h.”agate portrait”). A greenish color, which occurs together with other shades is typical of the agates from the area. Often, reddish Pigmentation is involved in this type of which however only patterns a partly trace the bands. (including 25, 27, 28, 47). Red colored nodules were here to be found, as well as beautifully yellow to brownish yellow agates. The formation of Spherulithes in the centre of the agates, whose growth direction is inverseto those that build the agate otherwise is unusual. (17, 48). We made the best finds in about one meter deep on two consecutive days. Subsequently, this site was visited by other collectors who spared to dig the work down and rather chopped up into the high wall. Whether this corresponding findings were made, I can't say. On our third and final day - about one week later - at the site, we uncovered the now covered finding zone, and found some few, but exceptional agates (55). We spent the rest of the day cleaning the remnants of our competitors.

The described site is privately owned and may be entered only with the permission of the owner.