Late Victorian high carat gold brooch set with a stunning transcluent dentritic agate which seems to depict a row of trees reflected over a lake.
1.5inches by 3/4 inch.
Gemologists do not consider these stones true agates but, instead, a variety of chalcedony quartz, with markings known as dendrites, which derives from the Greek word dendron meaning tree. The fern-like structures are actually inclusions with traces of iron or manganese, which crystallise inside the agate’s fine surface fractures and create the branch-like motifs.