A cat’s eye gemstone or mineral reflects a narrow, concentrated, sharp band of light movable on the convex surface of appropriately cut en cabochon as you turn it or change the angle of incident light. This unique optical phenomenon is known as chatoyancy, and gems or minerals possessing it are chatoyant.
When used alone, it exclusively refers to cymophane, the clearest chatoyant type of chrysoberyl. However, when used adjectively with the mineral or gemstone name, it will refer to any that shows this optical phenomenon. Examples include cat’s eye moonstone, aquamarine, tourmaline, quartz, apatite, emerald, sapphire, ruby, etc.
Learn more about the cat’s eye meaning examples of stones or minerals with this optical phenomenon, their uses, and prices. However, they do not discuss their metaphysical, religious, spiritual, or healing significance.
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Cat’s eye meaning in mineralogy
Cat’s eye (cat eye) refers exclusively to cymophane, a chatoyant chrysoberyl that results from minute needle-like rutile inclusions or tube-like cavities oriented in the C-axis. It has the finest chatoyancy that will be clearest on the cabochon cut perpendicular to this C-axis.
Chatoyancy describes an optical phenomenon where gemstones (minerals or crystals) produce a lustrous silky reflection of a single concentrated, narrow streak or band of light that moves across the curved surface of a cabochon cut piece as you turn the gemstone or moves the source of light. It resembles the pupil streak seen in an eye of a cat and is sometimes known as a lion’s eye.
This cat’s-eye effect results from perpendicular light reflection by the fibrous or elongated parallel-oriented inclusions, channels, or tubes, some fluid-filled.
Besides cymophane, you can reference any other gemstone, mineral, or crystal that shows chatoyancy as a cat’s eye. However, you designate the mineral name as a suffix or prefix, i.e., use it adjectively. For instance, you can have cat’s eye quartz, moonstone, tourmaline, aquamarine, emerald, scapolite, sapphire, opal, apatite, etc.
Most are real natural stones, crystals, or minerals, meaning they have only been mined, cut, and polished, with some even available as rough stones. Natural ones are rare, and most can be very pricey. However, some treated, altered, or enhanced pieces exist.
Cat’s eye cabochons may have different shapes and designs, including ovals, rounds, triangular, tear-drops, etc. The best-looking will have the characteristic, streak, or sheen along their length.
Costs and prices
Cat’s eye gemstones have different prices even when they are of the same mineral. The price per carat depends on physical properties (durability, size, and cut) and optical properties (clarity, color, and other optical phenomena). Also, rarity, beauty, and place of origin may impact how much you pay to buy a cat’s eye stone. Prices can range from a few dollars to thousands of dollars per carat.
Uses of cat’s eye gemstone
Some of the uses of chatoyant gemstones include making pendants, anklets, bracelets, brooches, rings (including engagement rings), and other jewelry, especially as centerpieces or for general decoration.
Other chatoyant stone uses may be metaphysical, healing, astrological, or religious, i.e., they have these properties. However, we don’t intend to discuss such properties.
Common chatoyant stones
Some of the popular cat’s eye gemstones or minerals include the following:
1. Chrysoberyl cat’s eye (BeAl2O4)
Cat’s eye chrysoberyl refers to the honey-yellow, light-yellow, dark yellowish brown, or greenish varieties of chrysoberyl that display chatoyancy when correctly cut en cabochon. Their chatoyancy results from minute parallel-oriented needle-like inclusions or tubes.
The most valuable chatoyant chrysoberyl is brownish yellow (honey) to slightly greenish yellow. Those with honey color may display the milk and honey, characterized by half of the cabochon close light perpendicular to the chatoyant streak appearing honey and the half further away appearing milky.
Cymophane (oriental cat’s eye), or simply cat’s eye, is the clearest of all chatoyant gemstones. The other one is alexandrite, which will look at the ordinary yellow-to-green and Brazilian of inferior quality to Sri Lankan.
Some famous examples are Sri Lankan Maharani chrysoberyl, a 58.19-carat, honey yellow gemstone on display at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, U.S.A., and the 313.50-carat Kandy Cat’s-Eye set in a gold circle that belonged to the King of Kandy and later presented to Queen Victoria in 1886.
Chatoyant chrysoberyl is durable, with a Mohs hardness of 8.5. Some uses include as centerpieces for rings or pendants and making other jewelry, including earrings.
Chrysoberyl cat’s eye prices vary with rarity, clarity, place of origin, size, and cut. Ordinary lower quality sell brownish will sell from 60 dollars, yellow-green start at 150 dollars, while clearest, honey-colored going for over $2000 per carat
2. Cat’s eye quartz (SiO2)
Cat’s eye quartz may result from inclusions of parallel-oriented needles, fibers, or channels that include rutile, hornblende, and asbestos/actinolite when cut en cabochon. These mainly translucent chatoyant gemstones may be gray-greenish, greenish, yellow, or brownish but can be other colors.
Tiger’s eye and hawk’s or falcon’s eyes are chatoyant quartz stones whose background color (of the gemstone, not the reflected narrow streak) is golden-yellow to reddish-brown and bluish-gray, respectively. They resemble the eyes of a tiger and a hawk/falcon, respectively.
India, Burma, and Sri Lanka are among the places with fine quality cat’s-eye quartz. However, other countries have them too. For instance, Bavarian samples (Hof and other sites in Bavaria) with actinolite inclusions have few excellent stones. Another type is the Harz (Harz Mountains, Germany) which has inferior quality.
Another specimen worth mentioning is the Amethyst cat’s eye, an example of macrocrystalline quartz that shows chatoyancy. Remember that quartz can be chalcedony (micro or cryptocrystalline) or quartz (macrocrystalline).
Lastly, when you compare quartz to cat’s eye chrysoberyl, quartz has less sharp chatoyancy and different background. Also, it is not as hard or durable as chrysoberyl, which has a Mohs hardness of 8.5 vs. quartz’s 7. Its uses include pendants, cut beads, or as a spiritual or decorative gemstone.
3. Cat’s eye moonstone
Moonstone (Na, Ca) Al₁₋₂Si₃₋₂O₈, KAlSi₃O₈) is a variety of orthoclase, a feldspar group member with a Mohs hardness of 6 -6.5 that may show opalescence, schiller effect/adularescence, asterism, or fluorescence optical phenomena.
When cut appropriately en cabochon, some gray, blue, brownish-gray, whitish, or purplish-blue moonstones from Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, etc., show chatoyancy.
Chatoyant moonstone occurs due to parallel-oriented needle-like inclusions, including hematite or ilmenite (Sri Lanka. Its prices range from less than ten dollars to a few hundred dollars per carat, depending on clarity, cut, size, origin, and other optical phenomena. Uses include making pendants, earrings, pendants, and other jewelry.
Please note there is a difference between ordinary, non-chatoyant milky-white moonstones with a shimmery appearance and a chatoyant that shows a streak resembling one in the eyes of cats.
4. Cat’s eye opal
Opal is a hydrated silica (SiO2·nH2O) mineraloid with a Mohs hardness of 5.5 to 6.5. Some yellow, brown, or green varieties show chatoyancy when cut en cabochon due to fibrous brown, white, or golden inclusions or hollow tubes. Another chatoyant opal is the green, flashfire, or multicolored harlequin opal.
Chatoyant opal comes from Tanzania, Madagascar, and Western Australia, and its uses in gemology include part of composite gemstones. The significant water amount and lower Mohs hardness make it less than ideal as a wearable gemstone.
5. Cat’s eye tourmaline
Tourmaline cat’s eye results from microscopic fibrous crystals or needle-like ca cavities/hollow tubes (some filled fluids, gas, or other minerals) running parallel to the c-axis cut en cabochon. It is often green, reddish, or pinkish gemstones but blue, yellow, purple, brown, colorless, yellowish-green, or bluish-green.
Chatoyant tourmaline is less clear than chrysoberyl and comes from Madagascar, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Brazil, the U.S.A. (California and Maine), Africa, and Australia. With a Mohs hardness of 7-7.5, these stones are perfect for earrings, rings, bracelets, pendants, etc., or can be ornamental.
If you are looking for a piece, you should know that tourmaline cat’s eye prices depend on the place of origin, clarity, weight, and cut and can range from less than $50 to a few hundred dollars per carat. Some, like the Paraíba, cost much more.
6. Cat’s eye sapphire and ruby
Sapphire and ruby are gemstones corundum that hardly show chatoyancy and asterism. However, rare and priced cat’s eye sapphire and ruby gems are known to exist. It happens due to impure samples with parallel minute, needle-like rutile inclusions that create the silky lustrous chatoyant streak when cut en cabochon.
Chatoyant ruby gems are often pinkish to blood-red in color but can be other colors depending on the trace element inclusions, while sapphire is mostly blue (intense, deep royal blue), but it can vary. Sometimes, girasol sapphire refers to the chatoyant sapphire.
Ruby and sapphire gemstones are hard and durable with a Mohs hardness of 9, and chatoyant pieces make earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, or pendants. Prices can range from as little as $50 to several hundred dollars per carat, depending on the quality, place of origin, clarity, and other factors.
7. Alexandrite cat’s eye
Alexandrite is a chrysoberyl (BeAl2O4) type that changes color under various lighting conditions, with some specimens pleochroic and some rarely chatoyant. It comes in blue, green, red, gray, yellow, and purple or may have several colors. This expensive and hard-to-find gem is available in Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Brazil, and Madagascar after the exhaustion of Russian deposits.
Chatoyant alexandrite has parallel microscopic fiber that causes this optical phenomenon and is perfect for pendants and ring centerpieces. However, being expensive (sells for a few hundred to over a thousand dollars per carat), and since it doesn’t occur in large crystals, there is a synthetic chatoyant alexandrite.
Some synthetic, color-changing alexandrite processes include Czochralski, flux, and floating zone, with Kyocera Corporation (Kyoto, Japan) having a cat’s-eye synthetic alexandrite with fine, whitish acicular inclusions named Inamori created in the U.S.A. The synthetic version is cheaper and has larger crystals.
8. Emerald and aquamarine cat’s eye
Cat’s eye aquamarine and emerald are some varieties of beryl Be3Al2Si6O18 that display chatoyancy. Aquamarine and emerald occur in Afghanistan, China, Brazil, Pakistan, Tanzania, Australia, Russia, the United States, Nigeria, Zambia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and India, among other places. However, only a small percentage show chatoyancy or asterism.
Chayotant aquamarine may be blue, dark blue to greenish blue, with some that have parallel microscopic rods that cause this effect when cut in cabochon. One such example is the 114 carats on display in the Geological Museum of London,
On the other hand, a chatoyant emerald is due to microscopic fibrous or parallel needle-like inclusions, and if cut skillfully in cabochon, it will display chatoyancy. Uses include gemstones in earrings, rings, and a necklace pendant, such as the one in the Elisa Gold pendant necklace by Kendra Scott.
9. Cat’s eye apatite
Some translucent fibrous green, blue, and yellow-greenish apatite stones from Myanmar, Brazil, and Sri Lanka show chatoyancy when correctly cut en cabochon. Also, Tanzania (Umba village) has brown to reddish brown chatoyant apatite formed due to parallel needle-like inclusions. In Mexico, the yellow-greenish apatite is heat treated to resemble the greenish one highly valued in Brazil.
Like other gems, chatoyant apatite prices will vary depending on the quality, clarity, color, place of origin, and size, among other factors. Thus, prices per carat can be as low as $7, while superior quality can fetch over 100 dollars.
10. Scapolite
Cabochon cut white, pink, pale yellow, violet, blue-violet, or black scapolite cat’s eye gemstones exist. They are from Myanmar, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and other places.
Scapolite’s chatoyancy results from parallel rod or needle-like inclusions, fibers, channels, or cavities along the scapolite’s tetragonal optical axis. Some are fluid fields, others hollow, with inclusions including pyrrhotite (Sri Lanka) and reddish brown iron oxides (Tanzania).
11. Chatoyant sillimanite
The Sillimanite cat’s eye gemstone is yet another lovely gemstone whose chatoyancy is from the presence of microscopic parallel fibers. This aluminosilicate Al2SiO5 stone has a Mohs hardness of 7. Myanmar has grayish green, while Sri Lanka and India have brown-black, whose chatoyancy and blackish coloration is due to the presence of submicroscopic elongated needle-like ilmenite.
12. Tremolite and actinolite
The minute parallel needle-like inclusions or fibrous nature produces a cat’s eye actinolite appearance when cut en cabochon. This translucent to opaque, mainly yellowish to a green colored gemstone in the amphibole group mineral is an intermediate gemstone between the ferro-actinolite and magnesium-rich tremolite series. Its Mohs hardness is 5.5 – 6, with some greenish chatoyant ones collected in Tanzania.
Another closely related mineral is cat’s eye tremolite, with a greenish variety from Ontario, Canada, and a lilac pink from New York, U.S.A. Also, Badakhshan, Afghanistan, has pale-greyish green or brownish-green chatoyant tremolite gemstones.
Also, there is a magnesium-rich pink to purple tremolite, i.e., cat’s eye hexagonite from Flower, St. Lawrence County, and a deep-green, greenish-yellow, deep green or black chatoyant actinolite or tremolite from Taiwan.
13. Chatoyant enstatite
Enstatite is a magnesium silicate (MgSiO3) pyroxene group endmember that comes in white, brown, yellow-green, olive-green, and greenish gray. Some samples of this mineral from India, Sri Lanka, and other places are known to show chatoyancy when cut en cabochon, including brown, greenish-gray, and dark green ones.
So far, the largest or Guinness World Record holder enstatite cat’s eye weighs 28.87 carats (5.77g). This transparent to translucent brown cabochon piece is owned by GemGini Limited (U.K.).
Lastly, with a Mohs hardness of 5–6, this gemstone isn’t popularly used as jewelry. However, alluring chatoyant pieces may serve as a pendant on necklaces or in making earrings.
More gemstones
Other cat’s eye gemstones include peridot, nephrite, kunzite (spodumene), kyanite, spinel, topaz, tanzanite, selenite (satin spar), wollastonite, ricolite, labradorite, satellite, anthophyllite, and sunstone.
Others that rarely show chatoyancy include zircon, obsidian (Apache tears), almandine garnet, diopside (including chrome diopside), nepheline, prehnite, zoisite, petalite, kornerupine, thaumasite, cordierite, and ulexite.
Synthetic imitations
Besides the synthetic alexandrite Inamori chrysoberyl (sold as Victoria cat-s eye or stone), there are glass cat’s eye imitations such as Cathay cat’s-eye or Cathay stone. The dense or heavy, high refractive index mosaic-fused glass fibers run parallel in differently colored lower index glass or other minerals.
References
- Manutchehr-Danai, M. (2009). Dictionary of gems and gemology (3rd ed.). Springer.
- Webster, R., & Read, P. G. (2006). Gems: Their sources, descriptions, and identification (6th ed.). Elsevier.
- Okrusch, M., & Frimmel, H. (2020). Mineralogy: An introduction to minerals, rocks, and mineral deposits. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-57316-7
- Read, P. G. (2010). Gemmology (3rd ed.). N.A.G.
- Zwaan, J. C., & Hawthorne, F. C. (2018). Cat’s-eye Tremolite from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. The Journal of Gemmology, 36(1), 14–15. https://doi.org/10.15506/jog.2018.36.1
- Gübelin, G. M., & Woensdregt, C. P. (1986). Some unusual sillimanite cat’s eyes. G.I.A. https://www.gia.edu/doc/Some-Unusual-Sillimanite-Cats-Eyes.pdf
- Schmetzer, K., & Bank, H. (1983). Investigation of a cat’s-eye scapolite from Sri Lanka. G.I.A. https://www.gia.edu/doc/Investigation-of-a-Cat-s-Eye-Scapolite-from-Sri-Lanka.pdf