Earrings – Black Agate (Onyx) facet

Onyx is a black or sometimes black and white striped Agate variety. Banded Aragonite from Pakistan is also often called Onyx, but traditionally the name only means the Agate variety. Onyx is cryptocrystalline, which means that the crystals formed by Onyx are invisible to the naked eye. The stone has been used for jewellery and decoration since Ancient times and is even mentioned in the Bible. The name comes from the Greek ‘onux’ which means fingernail. People used to also call the more red varieties of Agate Onyx as well, which looked like fingernails when combined with the more white bands. Onix has been used since Roman times to cut cameo’s. Cameo’s are relief stones with a different colour in the background than in the foreground.