Book Appointment

 

Fire Opal Jewelry & Black Onyx Jewelry are not spooky on Halloween!

Fire opal is a transparent to translucent opal, with warm body colors of yellow to orange to red. Although it does not usually show any play of color, occasionally a stone will exhibit bright green flashes. The most famous source of fire opals is the state of Querétaro in Mexico; these opals are commonly called Mexican fire opals. Fire opals that do not show play of color are sometimes referred to as jelly opals. Mexican opals are sometimes cut in their rhyolitic host material if it is hard enough to allow cutting and polishing. This type of Mexican opal is referred to as a Cantera opal. Also, a type of opal from Mexico, referred to as Mexican water opal, is a colorless opal which exhibits either a bluish or golden internal sheen.

 

 

ONYX Jewelry

Onyx is the birthstone for Leos and the anniversary gemstone for the 7th year of marriage. Black Onyx is the anniversary gemstone for the 10th year of marriage. Onyx is a variety of the microcrystalline quartz, called chalcedony. The name “chalcedony” comes from Calcedon or Calchedon, an ancient port on the Sea of Marmara in Asia Minor. Ornamental materials were once mined in that area and it was an active center for trading various stones.

Onyx were used widely in the past as bases and handles for gold items, as well as for stone inlay work. Onyx seals were very popular with the Romans, who carved the pattern of the seal in negative relief to give a raised point. They often used stones with several layers, each of a different color, which were then individually carved to produce a different pattern each year. They originally used the onyx name for a variety of marble having white and yellow veins. Onyx is the Greek word for “claw” or “fingernail” because these veins resemble the colors of a fingernail. The marble is still called “onyx marble,” being less valuable and softer than onyx which has a hardness rating of 7. Onyx was also traditionally used for carving cameo brooches.

The myth of the origin of onyx says that the goddess Venus was resting on the banks of the Indus River. As she slept, Cupid used the point of one of his enchanted arrows to give her a manicure. The parings of her nails then fell into the waters of the sacred river. Since the nails were of heavenly origin, they sank to the river bottom and were metamorphosed into onyx.