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Sardonyx Spheres with Wooden Stand

Sardonyx Spheres with Wooden Stand

Regular price $16.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $16.00 USD
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These are sardonyx spheres. They are small about 1.25" in diameter. Onyx is formed of bands of chalcedony in alternating colors. It is cryptocrystalline, consisting of fine intergrowths of the silica minerals quartz and moganite. Its bands are parallel to one another, as opposed to the more chaotic banding that often occurs in agates.

Sardonyx is a variant in which the colored bands are sard (shades of red) rather than black. Black onyx is perhaps the most famous variety, but is not as common as onyx with colored bands. Artificial treatments have been used since ancient times to produce both the black color in "black onyx" and the reds and yellows in sardonyx. Most "black onyx" on the market is artificially colored. Sardonyx is an agate whose banding is straight and parallel. Much like agate, it is dyed to enhance or change its colors. Dyeing agate was an art practiced by the Romans from early on, but it reached perfection in the 1820s in Oberstein, Germany. Sardonyx combines alternating layers of sard and onyx to create a reddish zebra-striped gemstone with white bands. It is one of three of August's birthstones. Used as a stone of strength and protection in ancient times, sardonyx is associated with courage, happiness, and clear communication.
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