Description

Agate – Crab Fire tumbled stones are a type of Spiderweb Carnelian Agate. As such, it shares the properties of Carnelian. This stone emerged a couple of years ago as “fire agate”. To avoid confusion with true fire agate which is rare and very expensive (about $500 for a quarter-sized piece), it is now increasingly being referred to as “crab fire agate”.

Crab Fire Agate has a glowing rusty orange color with scattered veins of gray to white. Rather than having the distinctive banded appearance of many agates, Crab Fire Agate has a “crackled” look. The web-like pattern of white crackles is actually created via heat treatment, which also produces a color enhancement giving them their fiery orange and red coloring.

Crab Fire Agate has a trigonal crystal system and is the mineral class of oxide in the quartz group. It is a form of Chalcedony that contains iron and is formed in areas of alkaline and acid volcanic rock out of magmatic silicic acid solutions that contain iron.