Cat's Eye

Hey, I haven't been able to find any threads in this forum referring to Cat's Eye stones, and I happen to have a lot of them myself in jewellery, coincidentally. I have a ring with interchangable cat's eye stones of different colours, and I have two anklets, one with small blue stones, the other with a variety of colours and sizes. It seems odd to me in a way and I find myself so drawn to these stones, it's like there's some kind of connection. Can anyone give me any information about them?

From Love Is In the Earth :

The structure of this mineral represents happiness and serenity. It can also amplify ones "luck". It can act to stimulate intuition and to enhance awareness. It is effective in dispelling unwanted energy from ones etheric fields. It also provides a protective energy to the user.

This mineral can be used in the treatment of eye disorders, to increase vision responses during night driving, and to relieve facial and sciatic affectations. It has also been used to relieve headaches and pains associated with the nervous system.

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I know there is a real stone called cat's eye, but most of the stuff I've seen labeled as "cat's eye," especially if it's cheap and comes in bright colors like sky blue or hot pink, is really a manmade dyed fiber optic stone. I'm not sure if I've ever seen the real thing.

-- Kyrielle

There is a difference betwen cat's eye and Tiger's Eye.
Tigers eye is a quartz it comes naturally in a dark & light honey color as well as a midnight blue and a deep brick red.
cat's eye is synthetic.

there is a test you can do to tell if something is glass or stone.....tap it against your teeth. Glass will seem 'soft' in feel & sound. Stone will be dense/cold & bold sounding- not sure how to really explain. Playing around with beeds of known material will be explination enough.

As Kyrielle said, the multicolored stuff sold as "cats eye" is dyed fiberoptic glass which is made into beads, cabochons, etc. The "eye" is VERY prominent in this material and colors are bright and clean.

Tigereye is quartz with inclusions of asbestos minerals.

True natural stone "cats eye" refers to varieties of several translucent gemstones that have minute fibrous inclusions (of rutile and other minerals). When cut properly as a high-domed round or oval cabochon (NOT as beads) and viewed under a single light source (like a small lamp), they show a vertical band of light that appears to sit on top of the stone. The eye isn't necessarily visible in all types of light, and its strength depends on the density of inclusions, transparency of the stone, and quality of the cutting job. Sapphire, moonstone, and chrysoberyl are the best known cats eye gems, but cats eye quartz, garnets, and other minerals are also found.

Lorena

From Love is in the Earth:

Cat's Eye, usually a variety of quartz or chrysoberyl, exhibits a chatoyancy which allows the stone to resemble a cat's eye. This chatoyancy is usually caused from the inclusion of straight fibers of asbestos. The color range is endless due to the numerous stones in which it may occur.

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Hope this helps, Dead Star.

Thanks for the info. Mine are probably not the real thing, but even so, I still like them and I hope they still carry some symbolism.

My mother has something similar actually, only different (that made sense). She has this ring that she found a very long time ago, it's sort of a pinkish-purplish 'star sappire' with diamonds around it. For anyone who hasn't seen one, it's a stone that, when held under light, shows lines in the pattern of a star. It's very pretty. I forget what it was worth back then but we've been wanting to appraise it again. I'm pretty sure it's real. I actually found a picture of one that looks a lot like it:

http://www.simplysapphires.com/rubystarns254.html

What color are your cat's eyes? They may be Tiger's Eye.....

According to the book I quoted, cat's eyes are REAL..... you could take the jewelry to a jeweler or a witchie store that sells stones to see if they are true stones....

The fake stones only recently started appearing on the market, so if you have had them for a while, they are probably real.

Hmm. Well I really don't know, I have all different colours. The ring comes with 6 different colours, all interchangable. One grey, dark blue, turquoise, rose, goldish-brown, and white. I forget how much that ring cost...I got it for christmas, I think it was at least $30 but that doesn't seem like a lot. I bought one anklet from a craft fair for under $20, it has all different sizes and colours, mostly dark purple, light blue and white. The other one my boyfreind got me has tiny little light blue stones set in silver hearts (although I haven't been able to find it since he was last here. I'm sad). I'm guessing the real thing would cost more? But I don't know. Any idea?

all those pretty colors-
doubt if it's tiger's eye-
as I mentioned before- the common colors for tigers eye are 'honey'- dk blue & dk red.....

It is interesting that some here say that there is a stone called cat's eye- for as long as I have known, 'cat's eye' (prior to the synthetic developement of all the pretty colors) is just another name for tiger's eye- the term Cat's eye found it's way to the stone (and others) due to the occurance of that 'sparkle' when put under light.

http://whitemountainbiz.com/gemcity0041.html
look about 1/3rd of the way down, just past moonstone.