14kt/18kt Natural Cross Agate, Citrine & Diamond (.13ctw) Pendant

Chain not included

These amazing natural wonders come from a remote region of Indonesia. The heat and fluids which feed hot springs are driven by subsurface volcanic activity. These types of systems are long lived and last from tens of thousands to upwards of millions of years. Recurrent magmatic pulses take place at depth, old conduits reopen and old hot springs regenerate at surface. Chemistry of upwelling fluids may change as they mix with ground water. The water table may change with the climate. Fluids may precipitate their dissolved iron, manganese or other materials along with silica. When an old hot spring gains new life, old cracks, veins and fissures below become conduits for new fluids. These fluids may deposit iron and silica and later seal the old cracks as the system cools down and dies again. These late crack fillings stained by the residual iron or other elements contrast with the older parent agate exhibiting a criss-cross pattern (pull-apart). Hot spring deposits and their feeder systems can be later exposed at surface by uplift and erosion. The pebble size agates we find in modern day stream beds with red (iron) stained silica cemented (sealed) desiccation cracks are actually the fossil remains of ancient hot spring systems. The different color agate which fills the healed cracks are just evidence of different mineral saturation in the late stage fluids pulsing the mature hot spring system. Local villagers collect the small agate pebbles from river drainages and ancient gravel terraces. Over the course of a year thousands of agates are gathered, but only 1% reveal the natural cross, and only about 70% of those are successfully ground and polished into finished stones. The villagers work most of these stones without the benefit of electricity! Even with state of the art equipment, cutting the crosses would remain challenging. The natural cross pattern is sealed just under the skin of the agate which must be shaped with extreme caution to reveal the cross. Great care must be taken by the stone cutters to avoid grinding through the thin colored layer that forms the cross itself, and many potential gemstones are lost in the process. No more than 250 finished stones are carried out of the jungle each year by one entrepreneur, a former mining engineer from Oregon (Joel Ivey). Of those stones, Jan Daggett has the good fortune to hand pick from his collection for the finest of these rare gems!