Jasper is an aggregate of micro granular quartz and chalcedony as well as other mineral phases. It is an opaque variety of silica, occurring as red, yellow, or brown, in color. It’s most common form occurs as red, due to the iron inclusion oxidizing as it reacts with oxygen. It is used for a variety of purposes including vases, snuff boxes and seals. Jasper’s name means spotted rock or speckled stone depending on which language you are using to trace its origins. We know from archaeological records from throughout the ancient world, from the Israelites to the Minoans in Crete of how the stone was used which was mostly ornamentation as well as carving and setting it in signet rings for sealing contracts and matters of the state.