The beauty of onyx, a type of microcrystalline quartz, has been appreciated throughout history. The word onyx comes from the Greek "onux" meaning "fingernail". The story of how onyx was created goes like this: One day, Cupid was very bored and, for amusement, set about cutting the fingernails of the sleeping Venus with an arrowhead. He succeeded in doing this without waking her, but left the nail clippings on the sand. The Fates intervened and turned the fingernail clippings to stone (onyx), so that no part of her divine body would perish. We can assume that Venus painted each fingernail a different color because onyx comes in various shades of green, yellow, blue, pink, red, brown, beige, grey, black and white!
The Bible mentions onyx several times: it is one of the precious stones on a cherub (Ezekiel 28:13) but is not powerful enough to buy wisdom (Job 28:12). In Islam, Bektashi dervishes wear a 12-pointed onyx star they call the "stone of submission". In folklore, onyx is the mystical birthstone for December, one of the many birthstones for February, the lucky charm for Leo, and the anniversary gemstone for the 7th wedding anniversary. In addition, black onyx is the anniversary gemstone for the 10th wedding anniversary, perhaps because it is supposed to have mystical properties that help a person change their habits!
In Turkey, Cappadocia has the onyx mines where the highest quality onyx is found (brown-veined green onyx is the highest quality, followed by brown-veined beige). Local artisans are experts at making items of jewellery as well as beautiful vases, chess sets, and numerous other attractive artifacts and knick-knacks. Watch a demonstration of how this very hard and brittle stone is cut, shaped and polished, before seeing the many beautiful onyx products.
Workshops often sell other traditional and precious items such as hand-beaten copperware, meerschaum pipes, and jewellery made with precious and semi-precious stones, silver, and 22 or 24 carat gold. Local specialties include Hittite-style jewellery and traditional Turkish woven silver bracelets and necklaces. You will be amazed by the cheap prices!
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