Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate

Most of us would love to own a piece of Fire Agate; whether you are a rockhound, like myself, and appreciate the raw beauty of of specimen or just love jewelry and appreciate the play of light off of the piece.  Like opals, Fire Agate plays with light to give itself a very iridescent appearance. 

This great Fire Agate specimen can be purchased from ETSY shop GlimmeringGems at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlimmeringGems?ref=seller_info

Fire Agate is a chalcedony, which is a variety of quarts, made up from silicon dioxide and small amounts of iron oxide. The reason why chalcedony looks so different than quartz is because the crystals in chalcedony are very tiny, microscopic, and often fibrous giving the chalcedony a unified appearance as if it was one large piece.  Fire Agate has small plates within that interfere with the light so it gives it the desired "fire" or iridescent appearance that makes it so wonderful for jewelry and carving art.  Often the piece will look very unassuming when it is first discovered in its raw form; it is not until the mineral is carved and polished that the true beauty is exposed.  Unfortunately it is a technique that has to be carefully executed because if too much of the layers are removed you will lose the "fire" affect by removing the layer that interferes with the light.

I found this wonderful example of raw Fire Agate on Etsy shop EarthLightGems at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthlightgems?ref=seller_info
It shows how the rock can be so unassuming until you get through the outer layer and see the colors.

Fire Agate is always a shade of red - orange - brown because of the iron oxide in it.  It can be found in the US, primarily in the Southwestern region, but can also be found in other areas world wide.   Since the mineral is relatively common it makes the cost of piece much less expensive than a piece made out of a precious gem such as opal.  Most often the cost of the piece will be determined by the workmanship and the time that it took to make it, not as the cost of the materials.

Here are some beautiful examples of pieces of Fire Agate or pieces made from Fire Agate that I found on ETSY.  Enjoy!

'Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate' by ButterflyInTheAttic2

This treasury can be found in today's blog post "Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate" at:

1 Pound Slaughter Mount... ArizonaFireAga... $35.00	10 rough fire windowed ... brokenbranchgo... $35.00	Fire Agate earthlightgems $20.00	Mineral specimen: Fire... WickedMinerals $15.00
SALE,2 Pairs Nugget Fir... mygemgarden2 $19.90	One and One Half Pound ... TheRightSpot $175.00	Fire Agate - Arizona - ... CoyoteRainbow $30.00	Fire Agate, Red. Rust, ... GlimmeringGems $24.99
Mexican Fire Agate Botr... saxdsign $105.00	Fire Agate earthlightgems $2.50	Deer Creek Fire Agate G... rondmil50 $50.00	Fire Agate. An American... gempalace $49.99
Fire Agate Gem Quality ... DesertDoveCrea... $150.00	TSL Fire Agate Cabochon... TopShelfLapida... $40.00	Mexican Fire Agate cab ... creativecabs $20.00	Golden Fire Agate Facet... LindasLovelyLo... $12.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

'Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate' by ButterflyInTheAttic2

This treasury can be found in today's blog post "Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate" at:

stone bead,fire agate,p... ShinyBead $6.40	New color-- 2 full str... excellentgem $18.75	Orange Fire Agate - Nat... InnerArt4Beads... $13.75	Fire Agate Round Beads ... carolsbeads $6.75
Full 16 Inch Strand of ... katherinesbead... $13.50	Crackled Fire Agate Bea... SheEarth $37.00	3 Strands --Fire Agate ... CGPGemBeads $24.15	1 Strand Red And Gray F... youarenotthebo... $5.99
Fire Agate Beads - 5 Pi... ElementBeads $12.85	Gemstone 14mm Yellow Fr... TheBeadpusher $2.65	Crab Fire Agate Stone B... BeaderyDestash $2.38	Fire Agate Beads laffinglady $9.00
Jumbo Starfish Agate/ O... BijiBijoux $13.50	Fire Agate Cabochon 21 ... FenderMinerals $22.00	Crab Fire Agate Pearls... CatsBeadKitsan... $7.99	Orange Fire Agate Oval ... OverstockBeadS... $6.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

'Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate' by ButterflyInTheAttic2

This treasury can be found in today's blog post "Saturday's Gem - Fire Agate" at:

Rust orange red crab fi... littlebugjewel... $33.00	Fire Agate Ring Silverdragonfl... $185.00	Fire Agate sterling sil... EmBound $40.00	Fire agate, Vintage Car... stacycsmith $70.00
Fire Agate Earrings - E... jewelry49 $10.00	Mother's Day Sale 1... RareEarthTreas... $79.00	Fire Agate Sterling Sil... MomNDadsJewelr... $99.00	Fire Agate Wire Wrapped... SweetWaterSilv... $110.00
Fire Agate and Chain Br... xVELVETx $26.00	Handcrafted Artisan Jew... bluemarblebead... $31.00	Amber Fire Agate Pendan... AllowingArtDes... $32.00	Vintage Handcrafted Ste... AstrasShadow $58.00
Slaughter Mountain fire... FireAgates $32.00	Canyon Wire Wrapped Pen... PeacebirdStudi... $275.00	Fire Agate and Carnelia... Jewelsbyjackie... $5.99	Fire Agate Wire Wrapped... CareMore $42.00

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