Cat''s eye--chrysoberyl?

[LD]

Date: 10/17/2009 8:03:29 PM
Author: glitterata
Mr. Z, I'm in NYC.

LovingDiamonds, my stone does look similar to your husband's alex in those photos. Does his alex do milk & honey?

I just held it sideways under a bright incandescent bulb in an otherwise dark room. I didn't see opaque/transparent, but I did see dark/light. The dark part is purplish gray, and the light part is greenish gray.

In daylight & fluorescent light, it's distinctly green.

It's also really unscratched up for a 100+ year-old soft stone.

Now I'm officially dying of curiosity. How can I have it tested?

I'm not sure what is meant by this term - does it mean half is translucent and half opaque? If so then no. None of mine do and they're all certified.

If you're seeing greenish grey in natural light and purplish grey in incandescent I would say that you may well have an Alex on your hands. That colour way is exactly what I see in mine and hubby's.

 

[glitterata]

Date: 10/17/2009 8:10:21 PM
Author: LovingDiamonds

Date: 10/17/2009 8:03:29 PM

Author: glitterata

Mr. Z, I''m in NYC.


LovingDiamonds, my stone does look similar to your husband''s alex in those photos. Does his alex do milk & honey?



I just held it sideways under a bright incandescent bulb in an otherwise dark room. I didn''t see opaque/transparent, but I did see dark/light. The dark part is purplish gray, and the light part is greenish gray.


In daylight & fluorescent light, it''s distinctly green.


It''s also really unscratched up for a 100+ year-old soft stone.


Now I''m officially dying of curiosity. How can I have it tested?

No. None of mine do and they''re all certified.


If you''re seeing greenish grey in natural light and purplish grey in incandescent I would say that you may well have an Alex on your hands. That colour way is exactly what I see in mine and hubby''s.

If I bought a genuine alexandrite on Ebay for $11, then--as my Grandma, may she rest in peace, would say--I think I''m going to plotz.

 

[glitterata]

Deleted because I misunderstood--Mr. Zeolite explains below.

 

[zeolite]

Date: 10/17/2009 8:03:29 PM
Author: glitterata
Mr. Z, I'm in NYC.

LovingDiamonds, my stone does look similar to your husband's alex in those photos. Does his alex do milk & honey?

I just held it sideways under a bright incandescent bulb in an otherwise dark room. I didn't see opaque/transparent, but I did see dark/light. The dark part is purplish gray, and the light part is greenish gray.

In daylight & fluorescent light, it's distinctly green.

It's also really unscratched up for a 100+ year-old soft stone.

Now I'm officially dying of curiosity. How can I have it tested?

A gemologist can to a spot Refractive Index test (used on cabochon cuts) on it in about one minute. Enstatite would read 1.65, Chrysoberyl 1.75.

Your picture does show a milk and honey effect. I don't think an enstatite can show that.

 

[zeolite]

I'm not sure what is meant by this term - does it mean half is translucent and half opaque?

See pictures in my tutorial. No, same transparency, but different color - dark brown and milk.

 

[glitterata]

My stone looks a lot like the cats-eye alexandrites on this page:

http://www.mineralminers.com/html/cymgems.stm

Cover your ears. I have to go jump up and down and scream for a little while now.

 

[chrono]

Gorgeous cat's eye, whatever it may be. Ahem...7mm being small is relative.

I handled a cat's eye alexandrite a few weeks ago and it exhibited a milk and honey effect.

 

[glitterata]

Well, small if it turned out to be, say, tiger''s eye. If it turns out to be alex, I take back the "small."

I''m not really sure how big it is. Bigger than 6mm and smaller than 7.5 mm. I''m judging by holding it up to my various rings. What a pro, right?

I wonder whether I should have it appraised, just to find out for sure. Is there a special kind of appraiser for colored stones, or would the same people recommended for diamonds also be good for this? Anyone have a favorite gemstone appraiser in NYC?

 

[T L]

Date: 10/17/2009 3:29:25 PM
Author: Richard Sherwood
Hi Glitt. It does have the look of chrysoberyl catseye. If so, the 7mm diameter means that it probably weighs in the ~ 1.75 carat neighborhood.

Tough to tell from the photo, but it looks to be high commercial to good quality, maybe a 4 on a 1 to 10 scale, which would put the retail value somewhere in the $500 to $700 range (for the stone only).

Not bad for eleven bucks.

Oh, and it''s a fairly hardy stone. No problem cleaning it in an ultrasonic with a detergent cleaner.

Wow, great find Glitterata.

I have a feeling you must love watching "Antiques Road Show."

 

[Indylady]

Ahhhh I was hoping I didn''t sound crazy when I suggested it might be a cat''s eye alex. I recently saw a cats eye alex with a diamond halo on either Dover Jewelry or Burgin''s sites, and I have been looking up cat''s eye alex''s ever since. Yours really does look like many of the cat''s eye alex''s I''ve seen around, though I haven''t seen that many. Dana at Mastercutgems has a pair and I''ve also seen them on one of the larger gem sites, though I can''t remember exactly where.

 

[glitterata]

Tourmaline, you know I do! SZH, I hope you''re right!

I need sunshine and a gemologist. The curiosity is killing me.

Just for kicks, here''s the other Victorian stickpin that I liked from that lot. It''s a hardstone (agate) cameo from the late 19th century, perhaps the 1880s or 90s. The setting is gold plate or rolled gold.

There was also a 10K signet stickpin from perhaps 1900-1920 (anybody out there with the initials NDM?) and a 20th century base metal fish.

 

[glitterata]

Now that I know what to look for, I think these two photos, taken earlier, may be showing the milk & honey effect. I take it the effect doesn''t show up very strongly in my stone because it''s so nearly opaque, right?

 

[oddoneout]

Interesting stone and what a great deal.

 

[Harriet]

I can''t wait to see it.

 

[glitterata]

Well, the sun hasn''t come out yet--it rained all day again, and now the sun''s down.

But the stone goes distinctly purple in candlelight. And candlelight also brings out a strong milk & honey effect.

Is that enough evidence that it''s an alexandrite?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Distinctly purple in candlelight, eh? This just gets more and more interesting.

It definitely has the look of a chrysoberyl catseye. If it happened to be alexandrite, that would be a real plus.

 

[glitterata]

Here you go: purple in candlelight.

This is actually candlelight with the incandescent overhead light on as well.

I was wrong about the size, though. I bought a little plastic caliper today--it's maybe 6 mm by 6.5 or PERHAPS 6.5 by 7. I haven't gotten the hang of measuring yet. The prongs get in the way.

 

[glitterata]

See? Purple. This is just the candle, no incandescent lightbulbs.

 

[glitterata]

Even a little reddish here, right? Not green, anyway.

 

[glitterata]

Last one. Purple purple purple.

 

[glitterata]

Less red with the incandescent lightbulb and no candle, but still purplish--more purple than green, anyway.

 

[chrono]

Glitterata,
I’m definitely intrigued. The distinct purple when viewed via candlelight is sounding more like a cat’s eye Alexandrite to me.

 

[glitterata]

The sun''s out! Milk and honey!

In real life it looks a little bluer than this, not quite as olive/brown.

 

[glitterata]

Wow, I am having such a hard time capturing the color of this stone. This is the best I could do for now, but it''s more of a forest green than this.

Green stone owners, I''d welcome photography advice.

 

[zeolite]

Take it out in the sun again, and rotate it 90o, so that the eye runs from top to bottom in the catseye orientation. This direction gives the shapest eye, and chrysoberyls have the sharpest eye in the catseye world.

 

[zeolite]

Wow, you post it even before I ask, that''s fast! Do you have a program to open up both your picture and my catseye at the same time? I did that just now in Photoshop, but there must be other programs that can do it. Then compare the sharpness of each eye side by side.

 

[glitterata]

Where is your cat's eye? I don't find a link in your previous post. If I can find it, I think I can open them side by side.

What am I looking for, though?

 

[zeolite]

Here it is:

 

[zeolite]

Notice how quickly my eye goes from white to the body color. Notice how your eye has a much wider white transition from the eye to the body color. That is a measure of how tiny or large the inclusions are that make up the the eye. Chrysoberyls have the finest, tiniest inclusions, which give them the sharpest eye. But that is a good indication, not proof. A spot refractive index would instantly separate the two gem species.

 

[glitterata]

Thanks, Mr. Z.

I guess I have to find a gemologist.