fireagate's Profile
-
My badges
-
About me
Welcome to the Bonanza Storefront for www.FireAgate.us
Providing quality fire agate gemstones, lapidary carving rough, mineral specimens and jewelry for the retail and wholesale markets. Our mission is to help educate and bring awareness of Fire Agates to the world.
Fire agate, a variety of chalcedony with an ancient and fiery beginning, is an all natural gemstone found only in certain areas of Arizona, northern Mexico, and other parts of the southwestern United States. Approximately 24-36 million years ago these areas were subjected to massive volcanic activity during the Tertiary Period. The fire agates were formed during this period of vulcanism when hot water, saturated with silica and iron oxide, repeatedly filled cracks and bubbles in the surrounding rock, often forming a botryoidal (grape-like) growth. Fire agate gemstones have beautiful iridescent rainbow colors, similar to opal, with a measurement of hardness on the MOHS scale of between 6.5 and 7 which prevent issues of fading, cracking and scratching. The vibrant rainbow colors found within fire agates, created by the Schiller effect as found in mother-of-pearl and fire opals, is caused by the alternating silica and iron oxide layers which diffract and allow light to pass which forms the interference of colors known as fire. Besides the thin limonite and/or geothite iron oxide layers, there is no actual objects inside the gemstones, the fire agate visual effects arise from light interference within the microstructure crystal layering of the gem.
-
Community content
Favorite types of items to buy
GemstonesFire AgatesGold NuggetsHand picked lists created
None yetForum messages posted
Show outside contact information
3Vicinity
City
Maricopa
State
AZ
Who's Around?
Say Hello To
