Lace Agate
Chalcedony & Agate Family
Blue lace agate is a pale blue-and-white, finely banded variety of agate rather than a separate mineral. Its looping, lace-like layers are made of microscopic quartz in chalcedony, commonly filling veins or cavities in rock.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Agate (chalcedony)
- Scientific or material identity
- Agate (banded chalcedony)
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Aliases or trade names
- Blue lace agate
- Composition or formula
- SiO₂
- Crystal system or structure
- Aggregate or composite structure
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Forms from silica- or mineral-rich fluids in cavities and fractures.
- Mohs hardness
- 6.5 to 7
- Specific gravity
- 2.58 to 2.64
Origins
Kenya · Malawi · Namibia · Turkey · Zambia
Appearance & optical properties
pale blue and white chalcedony with delicate lace bands.
History & discovery
The best-known deposit at Ysterputs in Namibia was discovered in the early 1960s. There, the agate occurs in hydrothermal veins cutting Jurassic dolerite; production from the original mine ended in 2017.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Its soft colour and intricate bands are shown in cabochons, beads, spheres, carvings, and polished display pieces.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Lace Agate jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Lacework Ring
Ring
The stone's fine curving bands look like lace stitched into the ring.
Web of Dawn Necklace
Necklace
A pendant of lace agate where pale lines spread like a spider's web at dawn.
Spiral Lace Pendant
Pendant
A pendant cut to follow the stone's own spiralling lace.
Lace Ribbon Collar
Necklace
An imagined collar of lace agate plaques, whose curling white and blue bands look like ribbons of lace.
Lacework Tiara
Tiara
An imagined silver tiara of fine lacework set with blue lace agate, its pale blue and white bands as delicate as lace.