Legends and Facts Surrounding The Sardonyx

cabochons of red onyx or sardonyx

       Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. Sardonyx is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. The name "onyx" is also frequently used for level-banded (parallel-banded) agates, but in proper usage it refers to color pattern not band structure. Onyx, as a descriptive term, has also been incorrectly applied to parallel-banded varieties of alabaster, marble, calcite, obsidian, and opal, and misleadingly to materials with contorted banding, such as "cave onyx" and "Mexican onyx".

• The gemstones of Emperors, Soldiers and Romans...
• Striking gemstones with colored bands - legends from Rome

       The history of this stone extends back many thousands of years. The sardonyx was said to lend courage to orators and bashful lovers. Consequently, it is a stone of incalculable aid to a romantic lady. The Egyptians had many fine scarabs cut from this gem, and some of them are to be found in museums all over the world. The Romans were the first to choose it as the birthstone for August. 

"She, loving once and always, wears, if wise, 

Sardonyx and her home is paradise." 

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