Onyx

Our onyx is mined in the Himalayas and is taken to the city of Karachi. There, skilled artisans begin the process of producing beautiful forms. They first cut the onyx into blocks and then form it into bowls, vases, clocks, eggs, animals, pedestals and other shapes. Then they polish it to a beautiful finish. This colorful banded onyx is the cold-water deposition of calcium carbonate. The colors that make these bowls distinctive come from the geological formations where the onyx is mined. Copper salts create the green tones and iron salts give the brown hues. The word “onyx” comes from the Greek meaning for fingernail and onyx, like fingernails, is made up of many layers. The onyx is similar to stalagmites, stalactites and travertine.

Fossiliferous Limestone

These late Mesozoic marine fossils, 240 million years old, lived in the Tethys Sea between the colliding sub-continent of Pakistan-India and Asia. The matrix that cements the fossils together is fragments of other fossils broken up in the surf prior to its lithification into limestone. The circular fossils with internal radiating dividers are coral. The chambered fossils are snails. The arcuate fossils are the cross sections of clams.