How to identify agate

Agates are transparent stones which is made up of quartz and a number of colored minerals. Silica - the same mineral that sand and computer chips are made of - dissolved in water creeps into small spaces in volcanic rock. When the silica is left behind it crystallizes. Slow crystallization results in large crystals that are valuable as gemstones: amethyst, rose quartz, and rock crystal are examples. Fast crystallization forms "massy," glass-like quartz such as agate, jasper, tiger's eye, aventurine, and onyx.
Most people recognize agate as a highly polished, banded stone. There are many stones on the jewelry market and some look like agate but aren't. So it's very important for us to indentify real agate. We should pay attention to the folling agate idenfication tips.
(1) Agate Color: True color and distinctive bright agate, onyx false color and light are worse, more obvious contrast between the two. Usually the natural red agate color is clear, obvious bands, careful observation, the red stripe was observed on the small red spots densely arranged.
(2) Agate Texture: mostly false agate stone imitation gives a comparatively true agate texture soft, with a jade agate in false marks can be set aside, while not authentic, is zoned. On the surface, really agate few flaws, poor quality is more.
(3) Process Quality: High quality agate has strict and advanced production technology, so the surface brightness is good.
(4) Agate Level: Water gall agate is the most valuable agate species. There are many types of agate all over the world. Carnelians are most common. They are transparent stones which may be rich orange-red, yellow, white, or brown, with little or no banding. Black agate is also very common.
So when we identify real agate, we should pay attention to agate color, agate texture and level to identify.