Fordite Motor City Agate Sterling Silver Pendant | Ben & Bryant Collection

This is history! Fordite, often called Motor City Agate, is one of the most unusual “stones” ever cut into jewelry. Unlike natural minerals formed deep within the Earth, Fordite was created inside American automobile factories during the early days of hand spray-painting cars. As vehicles were painted, excess enamel built up on the metal tracks and skids that carried the cars through the paint booths. Over the years, repeated painting and baking in factory ovens hardened those layers into thick deposits of brilliantly colored paint.

When these hardened paint deposits are cut and polished, they reveal stunning banded patterns that resemble agate or jasper. In fact, it can take around 997 individual layers of paint to build a single inch of Fordite, creating the mesmerizing stripes and color bands that make each piece completely unique.

Because modern automotive painting is now fully automated, the process that created Fordite no longer exists. The old paint buildup that once accumulated in factories has largely been cleaned away, limiting the supply of this material permanently. Each piece is a small fragment of American industrial history—once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Details

• Stone: Fordite (Motor City Agate – layered automotive paint)
• Origin: Reclaimed from historic automobile factories
• Metal: Solid .925 Sterling Silver
• Artists: Ben Davis (lapidary) & Randy Bryant (silversmith)
• Formation: Hardened layers of automotive enamel paint baked repeatedly in factory ovens
• Includes a BDD suede jewelry pouch and polishing cloth