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Gemstones:
Agate Color
No gemstone
is more creatively striped by nature than Agate, Chalecedony Quartz that
forms in concentric layers in a wide variety of colors and textures.
Each individual Agate forms by filling a cavity in host rock. As a
result, Agate often is found as a round nodule, with concentric bands
like the rings of a tree trunk. The bands sometimes look like eyes,
sometimes fanciful scallops, or even a landscape with dendrite trees.
Agates
and Jaspers, think Cryptocrystalline
Agates and Jaspers are a cryptocrystalline (crystals too small to be
seen even by a microscope) variety of quartz, known as chalcedony. The
varieties of chalcedony are divided more by character than by color.
Chalcedony is divided into a host of gemstones that have been named for
locally common varieties. Some of the more beautiful types have retained
their names on a world-wide basis while other names have faded into
obscurity as many of the relatively small local deposits became
exhausted. Some of the more common of these types are chrysoprase (a
pure green agate), Sard (a yellow to brown agate), Sardonyx (banded Sard),
Onyx (black and white Agate), Carnelian (a yellow to orange Agate), Flint
(a colorful and microscopically fibrous Jasper), Jasper (a colorful
opaque Agate) and Bloodstone (a green with red speckled Jasper). |
1940 Municipal Way, Unit 297, Round Lake IL. 60073 USA •
847-740-9414 • Since 1989
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