The legend goes like this- one day Venus was asleep when a mischievous cupid cut her fingernails and flew away leaving the finger clips scattered on the ground. Latter by the design of the god, these fingernails were transformed into stone that came to be known to the world as onyx. The name draws its origin from the word, onyx which in Greek language means fingernails. In latter course of history, this stone became famous in the hands of Romans, who crafted beautiful seals out of onyx.

The patterns were cut into negative reliefs which were famously called intaglios. The myth that for this gemstone originated from the body part of Venus, known for alluring beauty, justifies the stone’s fine texture and lustrous black color. Originally onyx is chalcedony quartz, which falls in the microcrystalline category. It is formed in the gas cavities of lava. This gemstone is basically a multilayered stone like agates and depending on the different colored layers, onyx can be divided into a few separate categories. Generally, when the stone has a black base and a white upper layer, it is called Onyx. Some onyx displays white and lighter reddish bands or ribbons of silicon di-oxide against a brown background, this variety is known as Sardonyx. When the onyx has a red base, it is known as Cornelian-onyx.