Intriguing Features Found in Banded-Agates: Always a New Discovery

The genesis of agates is a fascinating natural process on a geological timescale with infinite possible outcomes.  The host rock, the available silica and minerals for agate formation, conditions before formation, during, and after all impact the agate long before (millions to billions of years) it is ever cut and crafted in the lapidary.  While all agates bear distinctive features, this page discusses some of the more intriguing and recognized features found in fine banded-agates.  

These features can accentuate the agate's natural beauty or detract from its aesthetic.  Much of this balance will be in the eye of the beholder.  However, an experienced Collector develops a keen sense for the most desirable composition, such as the obvious face agates where tubes and fortifications form a picture in the agate recognizable as a face and can dramatically increase value, to fractures with the opposite impact on value.

Since the possible features and combinations are limitless, we will focus on those observed in our Collection, the Shop, or agates now in our client's mineral cabinets. Email if you'd like us to photograph other features that are not captured here.