Stone 101
Banded chalcedony with straight, stacked layers. The name is Greek for fingernail.
Onyx is the sleek, glossy one, in solid black or crisp bands of black, white and red-brown. Here you'll find bead bracelets, bead strands and meaning cards.
Shop Onyx by shape
The basics
Onyx is chalcedony, a quartz made of crystals far too small to see. It grows in flat, parallel bands. Agate is the same stuff, just with curvy bands.
Here's the honest part. Most black onyx sold today is chalcedony or agate dyed black, a practice that goes back centuries. Sardonyx is the version with red-brown bands.
Confusingly, "Mexican onyx" is a different stone: banded calcite, and much softer.
Rituals, not rules
These are traditions people enjoy, not promises. Pick the one you keep coming back to.
Care
Straight talk
Onyx is real chalcedony, but most solid black onyx on the market is dyed, since even, natural black is rare. The stone underneath is still real chalcedony. "Onyx" is also used for banded calcite (Mexican onyx). Want to know which you're holding? Just ask us in store.
Good questions
Onyx is traditionally linked with strength, focus and protection. Many people wear it as a steady, grounded everyday stone. Some just like how sharp black beads look.
Black onyx is chalcedony, a fine-grained quartz. Most of it is dyed to get that even, deep black, which has been done for a very long time.
They're the same mineral. Onyx has straight, parallel bands. Agate has curved, wavy ones. Both are chalcedony.
Onyx isn't on the main modern list. Sardonyx, the red-and-white banded version, is a traditional August birthstone alongside peridot.
