Bonsai #1 “First Snow”

Argentium® sterling silver brooch with Indian dendritic agate and polyhedroid agate slice.

This spectacular dendritic stone is from India. Such stones exhibit a natural image resembling ferns or foliage usually in tones of black, brown and red. The colorful patterns are created by manganese which forms dendritic or branching structures as it crystallizes. The stones may also be colored by iron via a natural ion exchange process.

Polyhedroid agates were discovered in Brazil in 1974 and mined several times in the 70’s. No new material has been produced since then.

These unique agates have natural geometric shapes and were probably formed in the spaces between crystals of calcite. The agate nodules themselves are sometimes hollow and may feature sharp, colorful fortification agate bands that follow the typically triangular or trapezoidal shape.