This Montana Agate necklace is a beautifully rustic yet elegant piece to be worn every autumn or year-round!
Nuances of warm yellow, orange and brown flow like smoky clouds in this lovely half-moon-cut stone. Radiating marks surrounding the Montana Agate express the sun’s rays as they fall late in the autumn sky. Branches are beginning to become bare with each wind and colder evening. Fused* and textured sterling silver twigs grace the top of the setting and becomes the method by which this beautiful piece is hung upon your neck. A 4mm faceted yellow citrine, like pale sunlight, is the perfect accent stone to draw your eye deeper into this piece’s story.
Details:
- Sterling and fine silver
- Montana Agate
- AA grade Yellow Citrine
- 1-7/8” wide by 1-1/16” long.
- Textured round-link cable chain makes this piece lay at an 16” length.
- 2” chain extender available
*Fusing is a technique where the sterling silver is brought to its melting point to join or attach pieces together without the use of solder. It is also a wonderful technique that can be used to create a very organic look to a piece of jewelry.
About the stones:
Montana Agate, also known as Montana Moss Agate: A member of the chalcedony (pronounced kal-SED-ney) family of minerals, Montana Agate is often clear, but can have translucent white, gray, yellowish or a reddish brown base color. It is found in the alluvial gravels of the Yellowstone River basin in southeastern Montana.
Chalcedony is a microcrystalline quartz and has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale of 1-10. Quartz in all its forms is the most abundant mineral on earth, making up 12% of the earth’s crust. The red and orange colors are the result of iron oxide; the blacks and browns are the result of manganese oxides.
Montana Agate has been the State of Montana’s official state gemstone, along with Montana Sapphire, since 1969.
Citrine: Citrine belongs to the very large family of quartz gemstones. Quartz is the second most common mineral in the earth’s crust. Common quartzes include amethyst, blue quartz, chalcedony, rose quartz and smoky quartz. Forming begins as liquids cool within cracks of rocks and begin to form crystals. When certain minerals are trapped together with the crystals, they form colored crystals.
Citrine colors range from light straw to orange and earthy brown. In addition to clarity, the more saturated and evenly toned color makes for a higher valued gemstone. Popular varieties include: Yellow Citrine - Light straw to lemony yellow color; Golden Citrine - Golden Yellow Citrine; Madeira Citrine - Golden Orange to Reddish Brown Citrine; Fire Citrine - A trade name for Deep Orange Citrine; Palmeria Citrine - Bright Orange Citrine.
