More Gemstones Available!
This large, beautiful Fire Agate with swirls of red, green and gold iridescent color within a dark red-brown translucent agate comes from Graham County in Arizona, one of only a very few locations in the world, all in California and Arizona where this unusual agate is found. Being agate and not opal, this stone is hard and dense, nearly as hard as topaz.
Its mesmerizing swirls of red, green and gold fire rival fine opals. The strong colors contrast with the dark-red brown agate around the color formations. This is a man's stone, or for a strong woman who likes color and contrasts. This is a gem prized by the Apache, particularly warriors as one large old Arizona location is on the San Carlos Apache reservation. Depending upon the colors in the fire in a fire agate, it looks well set either in silver or yellow gold. This particular stone would be outstanding set in yellow gold.
The color and shape of this stone are from the formation of the agate when it was a viscous thick liquid with gas bubbles and water in it. The botryoidal shapes within the stone are from the gas bubbles but also are where nearly all the fire is located. The stone is cleaved, cut, or otherwise prized out of outcroppings of hard brown agate and rhyolite with hammers and chisels/flat head screwdrivers, crowbars, and the like, requiring considerable strength, endurance and patience--and tolerance for heat. Most of the locations are well over 90 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 months or more of the year. Stones are usually cut into baroque cab shapes to maximize the fire and unusual shapes within the stones.
