GLOSSARY
Know your stones!
Click the links below to view images and detailed descriptions of gemstones and minerals used in the LF West Collection.
Amber
Agate is the banded form of the mineral Chalcedony, which is a microcrystalline variety of Quartz. Agate is the most varied and popular type of Chalcedony, having many varieties on its own. Although the pattern on every Agate is unique, the locality of an Agate will provide resemblances in banding style and color, thus lending many Agates with a geographic prefix.
Some examples are Laguna Agate (named after Ojo Laguna, Mexico) or Botswana Agate (after the African country of Botswana). Other variety names used connote specific colors or patterns, such as Fire Agate or Eye Agate. There are many variety names of Agate that are generally used by collectors and dealers, but there is also an abundance of variety names that are made up by dealers to describe a locality or other habit.
The varieties section in this page will only list well-known names that are commonly used.
Abalone
Snowflake Obsidian
Agate
Agate is the banded form of the mineral Chalcedony, which is a microcrystalline variety of Quartz. Agate is the most varied and popular type of Chalcedony, having many varieties on its own. Although the pattern on every Agate is unique, the locality of an Agate will provide resemblances in banding style and color, thus lending many Agates with a geographic prefix. Some examples are Laguna Agate (named after Ojo Laguna, Mexico) or Botswana Agate (after the African country of Botswana). Other variety names used connote specific colours or patterns, such as Fire Agate or Eye Agate.
There are many variety names of Agate that are generally used by collectors and dealers, but there is also an abundance of variety names that are made up by dealers to describe a locality or other habit. The varieties section in this page will only list well-known names that are commonly used.
Hematite
Hematite is a mineral, colored black to steel or silver-gray, brown to reddish brown, or red. While the forms of hematite vary, they all have a rust-red streak. Hematite is harder than pure iron, but much more brittle.
The name hematite is derived from the Greek word for blood αἷμα haima because hematite can be red, as in rouge, a powdered form of hematite. The color of hematite lends it well in use as a pigment.
Amethyst
Terra Cotta
African Agate
Chevron
Millefiori trade Beads
Powdered Glass Beads
Volcanic Lava
Black & White Agate
Bleached Coral
Marble
Mosaic Turquoise
Red Coral
Unakite
