Natural Yanyuan Agate Carved Butterly and Flowers Pendant, 天然原矿盐源玛瑙雕刻蝶恋花精编吊坠

Pendant Size: 35.3*25.2*18mm
Weight: 19.4g
Polishing: satin
Necklace: hand braided adjustable 
Origin: Sichuan China

High quality Yanyuan agate with dense, fine, and oily texture. Under the UV light there’s no fractures that are fixed with fillers. Pictures are taken with Micro lens so you can see how flawless and clean the surface is. The Stone has 2 colors: different shades of pink and light gray. Hand carved flowers on the front, plum blossoms on the side, and a butterfly on the back of the pendant. 

天然原矿盐源玛瑙。要达到原矿级别，不但是无注胶，玉质还要达到一定的细腻程度。这个吊坠非常油润细腻，手推出油。正面雕刻了一朵大花，侧面是梅花枝，背面一只蝴蝶。手工雕刻细节到位。我打过紫光灯，真的是无裂无杂无棉。

Yanyuan is a small town in Sichuan China, not far from Tibet. The name literally means “salt source”, which indicates the mining tradition of the town. Yanyuan agate is famous for its rich colors and hardness, is an ideal material for carving.

The value of such candy like agate is high due to difficulties to mine and the raw stone is scarce. Sometimes the miners were only able to find a few small raw agate stones in after mining for the whole day.

盐源玛瑙顾名思义产自四川盐源县。在盐源县，到处都是开矿的沟壑。矿农们就在这里，用最原始的工具，挖掘着一天的收入。他们挖到的盐源料一般都是一个一个，鲜有一窝一窝的，所以盐源料的出料量并不高。矿农们运气好的时候能有挖到一两块，运气不好，一天也就能挖到些能打几毫米小珠子的碎料。一个月，整个盐源也就出产不到千斤的料子。所以，原石产量少是盐源价格高的一个原因。

而除了产量少，另一个让盐源价格高的原因，是它最终价值的不确定性。因为从外观看，盐源料皮子都一样，完全看不出其中的好坏色泽。敲开才能见分晓，敲开可能一文不值，也可能价值很高。

但是，哪怕敲开的盐源玛瑙品相不错，但从原石到成品的过程中，较高的损耗率也是盐源价格高的又一个原因。拿盐源玛瑙圆珠来说，一颗圆珠的形成，要经历选料、切料、打磨、抛光等步骤，最后才能成为成品。但完美的珠子成品率很低，现在的料子，基本是20%成功率，很多料子，切着切着，就废掉了。