Forget About The Well-Known Diamond, Agate Should Be Everyone’s Best Friend

Gemstones are awesome. They sparkle, come in pretty colors, look good in jewelry, and they have a lot of industrial uses. Most of the attention goes to diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones. However, there are plenty of amazing stones out there that are just as worthy of our attention. They’re also much cheaper than the typical stones.

Today we look at the magic that is agate. Agate is made of silica, namely chalcedony. The name “agate” comes from the Greek Achates, the name of a river in Sicily (now called the Dirillo). This is where it was first discovered in the 4th or 3rd century BCE. Because of the variety of bright colors and the striking banded appearance, the stone quickly caught on and was used for jewelry and other decorative arts. It’s also found all over the world, not just in the Mediterranean, and each location has its own special type of agate.

If you want to check out more pictures of these fascinating stones, check out Flickr accounts like agatehill, Michal Z, and Jacques Rossier. Also consider agate when buying jewelry next time. It looks good in just about any accessory application.

Via My Modern Met