Weight (Specific Gravity): Standard for Quartz – ~2.60. It feels typical for a silica-based mineral.
Treatment: Agate is very commonly treated to enhance or create its colors.
Dyeing: The most common treatment. Its porous bands absorb dyes to produce vibrant blues, pinks, greens, and blacks not found naturally.
Heat Treatment: Often used to change or intensify colors (e.g., turning brownish agate a stronger red).
Sugar/Sulfuric Acid Treatment: A traditional method to create black “onyx.”
Stabilization: Impregnation with plastic to improve durability.
Body (Clarity/Appearance): Agate is translucent to opaque. Its “body” is defined by its banding pattern (fortification, eye, landscape), color contrast, and inclusions (dendritic, plume, moss). It has a waxy to vitreous luster when polished, no cleavage, and is quite tough due to its microcrystalline structure.
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