Fire Agate

Item Description

Here we have a lovely piece the famous Fire Agate specimens from Aguascalientes, Mexico the premier area in the world for the material. Agate is defined as variety of chalcedony or microcrystalline quartz which typically forms in banded layers, occurring in wide range of color. Fire Agate is a different style entirely, it has a botryoidal or grape-like form, typically with a brown hue. What is special about Fire Agate is that it contains layers of plate-like crystals of iron oxide (limonite) in various planes creating iridescent colors of red, gold, green and, occasionally, blue-violet, 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, and truly has been commercially available for about the last 60 years. 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 when the piece rotated in the light. The botryoidal forms and high polish on the surface are both excellent.