Fire agate, a variety of chalcedony with an ancient and fiery beginning, is a natural gemstone found in certain areas of Arizona, Mexico, and parts of the southwestern United States. Approximately 24-36 million years ago these areas were subjected to massive volcanic activity during the Tertiary Period. 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 to 7 which helps prevent cracking and scratching. The colors within fire agates, created by the Schiller effect as found in mother-of-pearl and fire opal, 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 geothite iron oxide layers there is no actual objects inside the gems, the visual effects arise from light interference within the microstructure crystal layering of the gem.
Due to the botryoidal shape and thin refractive color layers Fire Agate Gems are one of the hardest gemstones to cut into a finished stone, taking skilled lapidary work and the creative talents of an artist. Dedication, patience and time will be needed if you plan on producing quality fire agate cabochons, but the final rewards are truly spectacular. The fire agate stone also has a large metaphysical following with the fire agate meaning and properites of being an excellent protection stone which reflects negative energies back to the source, and healing properties for the stomach, nervous and endocrine systems.
Our goal for this site is to offer a variety of Fire Agate Gem Resources and other relevant information. Besides what you find here on our homepage, below is a summary of what you will find in other sections of our website. Check out our fire agate location pages for helpful information on fire agate mineral locations and public fire agate rockhounding sites. Links to some of our favorite fire agate gemstone related websites are found within our site under Favorite Links. Some of these fire agate related resources include the Mineralogical fire agate gem data from Mindat.org, friendly social media Fire Agate related communities, and publications such as Leon Hughes 'Prospecting For And Instructions On How To Finish Fire Agate Gems'. Our gallery section brings you to a wonderful selection of fire agate gemstones, gem grade fire agate rough, unique fire agate mineral specimens and some wonderful fire agate jewelry.
Fire Agates Mineral Locations: This section of our website provides a listing and description of some of the fire agate gemstone mineral locations with related information, links and photos. Several public fire agate rockhounding collection sites are also listed if you are interested in searching for your own fire agates. You will find information on the Black Hills, Saddle Mountain, Deer Creek, Round Mountain, Slaughter Mountain, Oatman, and Opal Hill fire agate gemstone mineral locations. We have prospected a large number of areas within the southwestern United States in search of fire agate deposits for mining claim purposes and will occasionally add new areas to our online site inventory.
Fire Agate Links and Related Web Sites: This section of our website provides links to several of our favorite fire agate related web sites. Check out some of the listed social media communities for people and friends that are focused on collecting and carving fire agates. We also list some websites for general rockhounding enthusiast and mineral collectors, some Fire Agate Gemstone Mineralogical data, a great fire agate publication containing a wealth of information, and an assortment of other interesting pages.
Fire Agate Gallery Page: This addition to our website is an online gallery of fire agate gemstones, fire agate rough, mineral specimens and some fire agate jewelry pieces for your viewing pleasure. We will be adding many more fire agate gems, pieces of fire agate rough and jewelry, along with some very unique fire agate mineral specimens to this section over time so please watch for new additions.
Fire Agate Shopping Page: This section of our website is our online store which often offers fire agate rough, gemstones, mineral specimens and jewelry for sale. At times items may be limited, or even unavailable due to time constraints. At times our store may be offline while we are busy operating our gemstone mines. Please keep checking our shop throughout the year for our selection of fire agate rough, fire agate gemstones, fire agate mineral specimens and at times even some fine fire agate jewelry.
Fire Agate Rough Buyers Guide: We also have a Fire Agate Rough Buyers Guide available for you which is a good place to start if you are new to purchasing fire agate rough. This page also has a link to one of our popular YouTube videos 'The World Of Fire Agate'.
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