Today we’d like to introduce you to Ed And Marcia Opatz.
Hi Ed and Marcia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ed has liked agates, primarily Lake Superior agates, since he was a kid and helped his Dad with his excavating business. One summer when he was about eight he even asked his Dad for a day of vacation so he could look for agates. He collected, and sometimes sold agates to buyers who put ads in local papers.
When Ed met Marcia in 1997 she soon discovered that he had peanut butter jars and other containers filled with Lakers, as they are called in the agate world, and wondered what was the purpose of having them.
“What do you DO with them?” she wondered.
So, as a gift, she bought him a rock tumbler, and that was the start.
Ed and Marcia have owned a cabin near Outing since 2002. Soon after that they discovered a sign on the outside of an old church building in Crosby that advertised rock club meetings that were held there. Marcia encouraged Ed to go to a meeting sometime. So one Saturday he drove from Outing to Crosby to check it out. After several hours he came back to the cabin, and talked, and talked, and talked about rocks. Marcia told him that he had found his people!
Ed (and Marcia) then joined the Cuyuna Rock, Gem, and Mineral Society, and have been members ever since. Ed became president in 2014.
After a few years in the Club Ed and Marcia started selling rocks at rock shows in Minnesota. That has since expanded to Wisconsin, Iowa, Denver, Colorado, and this year in Tucson, Arizona – the mecca of rock shows.
When Covid hit in 2020 and rock shows closed, they made the decision to have a sale at their home in rural Holdingford. It has become a yearly event, with rocks and equipment in the shed, shipping containers, lining the driveway, and in the three car garage. Customers have driven from nearby states, and there have even been people from Idaho and Rhode Island that flew to Minnesota to shop at the sale.
The couple travels quite a bit in their RV to rocks shows and locations in the United States and Canada , to collect agates, minerals, and jaspers. They also purchase rocks and equipment, from a single agate, to semi loads.
Reading an old agate book, Ed found a location in northeastern Arizona where purple agates had been discovered. So one winter while on their yearly southern journey, Ed went in search of the location. Luck was on his side! He found the spot. He and another rockhound filed a claim, and have been digging for what has been called Starry Night agates ever since.
With the dawn of online sales and TikTok, the Starry Night agates have become extremely popular in the United States, and slowly around the world. The last three years of rock sales in Denver and Tucson the Starry Night agates have been the hot item.
In addition to selling agates and other stones, Marcia designed seven heat changing mugs with a different rock featured on each. Coincidentally their next door neighbors own Mug Experience, which manufactures these mugs.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Really, most of our rock story has been smooth, except for just not having time to get everything done.
Well, I guess you would have to include the time we got lost on the mountain in Arizona coming down from the claim and having to call 911, meeting a javelina on the trail, and an occasional breakdown on the road. It just adds to the excitement!
We’ve been impressed with Opatz Excavating/Ed O’Rocks!, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Ed started helping his dad in the excavating business when he was in grade school. He bought his dad’s business when he was 22. Prior to Ed buying the business the main specialties were road building and farm work. Ed expanded into new residential excavating and installing septic systems. When he let his septic license lapse in 2025 he had one of the lower (earlier) license numbers given out in the state of Minnesota.
The Ed O’Rocks! business started when Ed and Marcia started selling at rock shows.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
There is a series of books to aid the rockhound in his search for agates, jaspers, and other rocks that are called The Gem Trails (of numerous states, mostly the western U.S.).
Ed and Marcia don’t use TikTok for their business, but do follow users who sell their Starry Night agates in live sales.
Sometimes Google lens can be helpful in identifying a mystery rock.
Ed is a great networker. He likes to find and share information with other experienced rockhounds.
Pricing:
- Pricing is based on size, quality, and rarity
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcia.opatz
