With a pendant like this, you can wear a piece of automotive history

The pendant you're looking at is made out of a stone called 'Detroit agate'.

It's pretty, right? And all those colours tell a bigger story than you might think.

Detroit agate is otherwise known as 'motor agate' or 'Fordite', because we'll attribute anything even remotely related to the automotive industry to Henry Ford, as if an entire company, a management theory, a fictional religion based on that management theory, and the ruins of a failed utopian city wasn't enough. Althought it IS worth noting that the name Fordite isn't connected in any way to the Ford Motor Company, it's just a fun name.

What you're left with is a sort-of stratified history of car paint. Kind of like year-rings in a tree stump.

Unlike naturally occuring agate, which Wikipedia tells me is crystaline sillica which typically forms in volcanic rock (if you're a geology nerd and I've got the wrong information here feel free to jump in and correct me in the comments), Fordite is entirely man made. It forms as a build up of years worth of old, enamel car paint.

Before the process was automated, when cars were built they were spray painted by hand which was then baked on (the paint, not the hand. Although I can't speak with any authority on workplace safety standards in the '20s).

A collection of Fordite stones. (Image credit: Deidre Woollard - image from: Wikimedia Commons)

As you'd expect, excess paint would drip off and end up on the tracks and pallets that the cars were placed on. The baked-on paint was often left, which would have another layer added to it with every subsequent car that was painted.

Continue this process over and over, while adding different colours to the mix every now and again, and what you're left with is a sort-of stratified history of car paint. Kind of like year-rings in a tree stump.

Over time enterprising individuals found these deposits, chipped it off, polished it and cut it to turn it into jewellery, making everything front pendants to cufflinks to rings.

You can find Fordite with colour samples that aren't popular anymore, with certain pieces showing off the history of car colours and how it's changed over the years.

It's going to be harder and harder to find some genuine Detroit agate.

That being said, if you plan on buying some Fordite it pays to have an idea of what you're looking for or looking at. The process can be recreated and there are jewellers who can make their own, but the really cool pieces are the ones that tell a story, but because cars aren't painted this way anymore, it's going to be harder and harder to find some genuine Detroit agate.

If you want to look at more Fordite (or even want to buy some) check out Urban Relic Design and their info site Fordite.com. They explain the different 'types' of Fordite and sell jewellery made out of it. If you like what you see you can also check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Would you accessorise with Fordite? Give us some fashion advice in the comments below.