The agate is the state gem of at least 5 other states beside Louisiana, and that’s not including the Fairburn Agate, making it the most popular state gemstone. You’ve got your fire agates and your moss agates, your Mexican, Greek and Lake Superior agates. You’ve got your lace agate and your banded agate, your pink, blue, purple or black agate. But as far as I can find out the Louisiana state gem is just your plain old agate.
Rumor has it that there is some major rock hound agate collecting done around the Baton Rouge parishes. But heck, once you’ve been mining for diamonds what’s an agate going to do for you?
Even though the agate doesn’t quite sparkle like the diamond its use in the making of jewelry, decorative vessels and ornamental objects goes back as far as the Stone Age. Early civilizations used the agate to create talismans to ward off evil and bring good luck. I guess I can’t get enough of these for my necklace.
Let’s see how else I will benefit by the addition of a lovely agate bead. The agate is said to guard against dangers, to encourage pleasant dreams, and to remove curses and eliminate bad luck. It is believed to have a calming effect during times of stress. (Agate body suit anyone?) It was believed to stimulate fertility, so why it was used to make one of earliest children’s toys, the marble, is anyone’s guess. (Hence the name “aggie” for a marble made out of agate.) Forget the aspirin and antacids, use an agate to cure arthritis, headaches, aid digestion and heal ulcers.
In 1976, the agate, found in abundance in the Louisiana gravel, became the state gem. (Petrified palmwood became the official state fossil at the same time.)
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