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Sunday, July 8, 2007

Information About Black Onyx

Onyx was very popular with the ancient Greeks and Romans. The name comes from the Greek word "onux", which means fingernail. The story is that one day frisky Cupid cut the divine fingernails of Venus with an arrowhead while she was sleeping. He left the clippings scattered on the sand and the fates turned them into stone so that no part of the heavenly body would ever perish. True, black isn't normally the color one associates with fingernails. (Did Venus wear Vamp?) But in Greek times, almost all colors of chalcedony from fingernail white to dark brown and black were called onyx. Later, the Romans narrowed the term to refer to black and dark brown colors only. Black onyx especially shines when used as a backdrop for color play. Its fine texture also makes it ideal for carving, making it a favored material for today's lapidary artists. Black and white onyx is a stone first popularized in the ancient Roman days. The ancients developed a method of permanently coloring clean gray agate to a pure jet black color. This was done to develop a quality black gemstone, there is no true black onyx. The resulting onyx is actually a better than natural onyx since it is harder and more enduring than the onyx one sees carved into little animals. Black and white onyx is especially rare due to its characteristic white bands;. The ancient black color contrasts with the distinctive white lines. As a side note, if the white layers and lines were perfectly flat, this material could be used for making cameos. Black and white onyx is a refreshing gemstone from ancient times. Check out these sites::Find
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