Fire Agate

Item Description

Here we have a classic and eye-catching piece of Fire Agate from the premier area in the world for the material. Agate is defined as a form of chalcedony or microcrystalline quartz that typically forms in layers occurring in a remarkable variety of colors and textures. The most well-known examples of Agate are the banded specimens which have multicolored layers. One of the rarest forms of Agate is Fire Agate and the material has been available commercially only in the last 60 years. Fire Agate is a brown Agate, and has a botryoidal or grape-like growth form. The special aspect of Fire Agate is that it contains layers of plate-like crystals of iron oxide (limonite) in various planes which in turn creates iridescent flashes of red, gold, green and, occasionally, blue-violet. This effect is the result from interference between diffracted light rays traveling through and reflecting from these thin layers. High quality Fire Agates can be as impressive in their play of color as fine Black Opal, but Fire Agate is significantly more durable than Opal. Fire Agate is suitable for any kind of jewelry, including rings. This piece is a great example of this well known material, polished on the display side to better show the rich golden and orange tones (with very slight red and green spots) when the piece rotated in the light. The botryoidal forms and high polish on the surface are both excellent.