Cat's eye gemstone

Characteristics of the cat's eye

Very often the name "cat's eye" is used as the name of a precious stone. However, in reality, this is only a special optical effect that is found in some precious stones.

The cat's eye includes precious stones with special golden-green or gray-green tints, which are very similar to the iris of the cat's eye. If such a stone is polished in the form of a cabochon, then when light hits the stone, a light strip appears, which looks like a cat's pupil.

Some gemstones that have the effect of a cat's eye are very high in price, such as sapphires, rubies, beryls and tourmalines, because among these stones the light effect of a cat's eye is very rare.

But the cat's eye is also found among quartz, opal, nephrite, obsidian. These stones are inexpensive in and of themselves, and the cat's eye effect doesn't differ much in price.

But when buying, you should be careful, as artificial stones with the effect of a cat's eye are now being created.

Some mineralogists believe that the name "cat's eye" should mean only chrysoberyls, and the rest of the stones can only have a "cat's eye effect".

There are also such precious stones as tiger's eye, hawk's eye, bull's eye, the color of which sometimes resembles the optical effect of a cat's eye, but this is actually only an external resemblance, and the stones themselves are completely different.

And yet, stones with the optical effect of a cat's eye look very beautiful and unusual.