Agate Gemstone Background

Agate varying in beautiful bands of colour with layers of chalcedony and quartz crystals sublimely folding together, presenting swirling ranges of natural rainbow colours.

Agate has been a traditional gemstone for the making of colourful beads, cabochons and carvings since it was discovered alongside a river shoreline in ancient Greece by philosopher Theophrastus over two thousand years ago.

With names including “cherry blossom agate”, “scenic agate” and “crazy lace agate”, the family of agate gemstone types is both colourful and a fascinating look into a world of natural colour and variation.

Popularly used as an ornamental stone for it’s hardness and resilience to weathering, agate has been a canvas for artists that have carved such wonders as the Roman “Holy Grail of Valencia“, and the Byzantine “Rubens Vase”, acting as relief to beautiful carvery with no indication of great age.

In the modern world agates are fabulous presentations of colour that are used widely in cabochon jewelry such as pendant necklaces and bracelets, and takes centre stage in our selection of designer jewellery with confident new modern life design.

Formation of Agate Gemstones

A cryptocrystalline gemstone, agate is comprised of multitudes of tiny micro crystals of quartz and chalcedony, with small changes in the environment of the growing agate forming differences in the bands of colour.

Much as tree growth is represented by lines in the section of a growing tree, agate forms layers as the minerals that it grows from deposit slowly over time into the bands it is so famous for.

When volcanic rocks are the parent rocks, agate forms when gases released by the heat of volcanic action escape and expand into molten hollows, forming cavities that will become the birthplaces of the subsequent agate.

Surrounded by volcanic minerals rich in silica minerals, water seeps into these cavities, coating the inside with an initial, often green tinged “priming layer”.

In the cosy birthing nodule the silica rich water then crystallises into chalcedony, coating the interior layer in a ring of new material that continues to grow so long as the mineral rich fluid provides for.

Over time the environment of this crystalline nodule slowly changes, and with the change in the environment the deposition of the agate bands change in colour, depth and constitution, ever so slowly growing towards the centre in changing bands that will forever reflect this passage of time.

No matter how these changes occur, perhaps a change in flow, a make up of the mineral rich fluid or otherwise a change in the environment around the nodule, the changes are unique to the agate’s birth and identifiable to the place where the agate comes from.

Myriad Presentations of Agate

The result of this gradual formation presents as beautiful bands of shining colour, a blend of quartz and chalcedony shifting between light and dark layers, sometimes finished with stunning arrays of quartz crystals filling the centre of a volcanic geode.

Not just limited to volcanic rock, under the right conditions “cold water” agates can be found forming from silica rich fluids in pockets of marine limestone, producing muted layers of white and grey colouring.

Given the right environment agate gemstones can also be found growing into stalactites in caverns deep under ground, into the voided husks of fossilized coral – slowly taking the internal shape of the coral, or into the shells of fossilized “Turritella” – ancient marine gastropods.

Hardier than the ancient rock cocoon it comes from agate will often separate and later found in “agate nodules”, these are found with a rough outer surface and a shape taken from the environment which it grew from.

When taken in cross section the beautiful bands of chalcedony and quartz present as lines of colours starting from an initial prime layer and then proceeding inward in a succession of bands.

These agate bands vary considerably in colouring and shape across the family of gemstone types.

Though many agate gemstones are found to be light to dull grey in colouration and subsequently dyed with colours, many ranges of colour across the visual spectrum are found in nature.

The Family of Agate

Though agate is comprised of chalcedony, chalcedony itself is not considered agate unless it shows banding, though there are some exceptions where the bands present as fern and landscape type patterns.

With the majority of agate gemstones found in Brazil these “Brazilian agates” have ranges of colours that are finely separated into even layers of banding, which have historically been dyed to enhance their predominately white and grey colour.

Less common “cherry blossom agate’ is a form of agate gemstone that presents soft translucent peach tones and is famous for inclusions of milky flower like “cherry blossoms”.

Dendritic agate and scenic agates show subtle ranges of colour with fern like and landscape like impressions respectively, found in Brazil these agate families form in similar ways to traditional agates.

Moss agate of India is often shown in small plates of material to better show translucency, this agate is green to brown in colour, with moss like inclusions that show micro landscapes of nature.

Discovered only in Central American regions “fire agate” is named for a fire effect of iridescent light similar to mother of pearl colouring and gifted with red colours and vibrant dynamic reflections.

There are many many varieties of agate gemstone with each showing different features in the structure of bands which are uniquely coloured and make for beautiful inclusions into jewellery matchable to many different fashion styles and personalities.

Agate Gemstone Finds

As nodules that have become separated from parent rock agates are found to size from less than a centimetre to almost a metre in circumference.

Nodules of agate are often opened to reveal crystals inside them, these are called druse’s, quartz, amethyst and many other crystals can be found within.

Where the nodule is completely filled with agate it is referred to as a geode.

Once found in the German town of Idar-Oberstein agate was extensively used in the gemstone trade and lauded for size and natural ranges of colours.

Over many centuries of activity agate was subsequently mined out, and in the 19th century many local people seeking escape from poverty found their way to South America.

In Brazilian Rio Grande do Sol these emigrants found what was to later be the most important economic sources of agate ever discovered, a massive commercial source of regular even striations, readily accepting dye that increased the value of the stone.

Shipped back as ships ballast to their town in Germany, this foreign source of agate renewed the old town and turned it into a gemstone hub that sent colourful patterned gemstones to jewellery makers across the world.

Though later finds in Indian and Thailand have opened up the global market for agates the original gemstone hub of Europe has retained fame for accumulated experience, and continued it’s heritage as a centre of agate excellence.

Cultural History of Agate

In nature agate shows good weathering characteristics that stem from it’s higher hardness of over 6 on the mohs scale, and can be readily polished to a smooth finish when worked with polishing wheels or rubbed against sandstone.

Agate has been widely shaped into much more than beads and cabochons for jewellery.

In headstone carving many cultures have turned to this precious gemstone as it holds detail very well, with pendant charms impressed with portraits, vases with decorative detail and shaped handles for knives and forks.

Dating from the kingdoms of ancient Egypt agate gemstone was used as a decorative gemstone, while ancient Minoan culture and Byzantine cultures of the Mediterranean used agate in drinking vessels and decorative jewelry.

With the development of industrial gemstone production in Europe, agate was shaped by water and later steam driven sandstones in workshops that created ranges of colourful beads used in art and craft uses across the early world and today.

Much agate found today is dyed in colour, though dyed agate is not recognisable by eye typical natural colours are much softer in presentation across bands, with light transitions of a single colour range as opposed to contrasting stripes.

As our jewellery makes use of natural gemstones all of our agate is sourced from suppliers that do not dye agate.

YAN Fashion use of Agate

Used extensively in YAN fashion jewelry, agate pendants and beads are chosen for their natural beauty that stems from rich floral imagery and soft projection of colour and light.

Suited well to our designer’s love of art and flower, cherry blossom agate shows clear blooms of flowers captured in small landscape scenes that are unique to each and every piece.

Cherry blossom agate is often peach pink in colour and matches well to both light white moonstone and quartz crystal designs that project purity, and our wood bead series of necklaces and bracelets that with accompanying floral silver brocades complement the floral nature of this type of agate very well.

Many of our bracelet designs are supported by agate beads which as complement to larger pendants help to blend agate together combinations of gemstone colours.

Of slightly different character is our new design range of litchy jelly agate necklaces that feature a translucent form of agate with pure elegant presentation and simple transparent tone in novel styling, this necklace can be seen here.

Classic agate types are seen in our ocean concept collection where a pendant necklace’s bands of subtle colouring are an element in the peaceful feeling of this series.

Agate’s of other types include scenic agate, natural landscapes are as if painted in the traditional fashion, casting visages of leaves and natural forms against white canvas.

Our designer’s studios efforts to bring out the natural beauty of gemstones in concert with each other to achieve a clearly evident design has made full use of agate with it’s floral character and natural beauty.

Our ranges of agate necklaces and bracelets can be seen in our store here, many of our designs feature agate beads and pendants with individual products detailing further details and interesting reads.

YAN fashion design shows that uncoloured agate are is just as rich and lively in colour as any gemstone, and our new designs that blend gemstones beautifully together to form new modern inspired styles are a continuation of the world’s love of this precious stone.