This is believed to come from the Greek story of the mischievous God of Love and Attraction, Eros, approaching Aphrodite whilst she slept on a riverbank. The name Onyx comes from the Greek word Onux, which translates to 'fingernail'. However be aware of sellers passing off dyed Agate as Blue Onyx too!īanded Calcite is relatively soft, and easily carved, which is why we often see fancy lamps, bowls, even cups carved from it. Worldwide shipping, in-store pickup, and in-store. Some dishonest wholesalers from China are even marketing this as Aquamarine. A fantastic store in Woodstock Ontario where you will find tons of crystals, stones, gemstone beads. This variety is usually sold under the name Aquatine Lemurian Calcite, to differentiate it from the more common Blue Calcite from Mexico and Madagascar, but it is sometimes sold as Blue Onyx. It can also be found in shades of brown, red, pink, green, yellow, black and even blue from Argentina. Banded chalcedony with alternating bands of cloudy milk - white and another color. The soft orange tones of the Mexican variety as seen in the bowl below are caused by iron oxide, the same thing that colours what we call Golden Healer Quartz. Onyx Orange topaz Oriental agate Oriental chalcedony Oriental jasper. Various names are used to describe this form of Banded Calcite, including Pakistan or Mexican Onyx (depending on it's place of origin), Pakistan Jade (which is a total selling ploy), Onyx Marble, or even Egyptian Alabastar. However within the building and interior design industry, Onyx is used to describe a much softer calcium carbonate stone - what we know as Calcite. The image below shows the gemstone Onyx, images from :

Within our gem and crystal community, the term Onyx is reserved solely for use to describe black and white parallel banded Agate, a variety of Chalcedony, which is microcrystalline (crystals that cannot be seen with the naked eye, only through a microscope) Quartz. This confusion has probably arisen due to the difference between the commercial stone or building industry, and the gem and mineral world. Within the crystal and mineral community, the name Onyx is often used to describe Calcite, usually Banded Calcite, but true Onyx looks very different to what most people think of.

Blue banded onyx