Chrysoberyl

Like the eye of a sleek feline predator, the chrysoberyl cat's eye winks at the astonished observer – a real miracle of Nature! That's why only this attractive gemstone has the right to the short, fitting name of "cat's eye". This gem is really something special with its narrow, bright band of light on a shimmering golden background, which seems to glide magically across the surface when the stone is moved.(For your information: cat's eye effects can also occur in other gemstones, but these always have to be referred to more precisely by adding the name of the gemstone concerned: e.g. quartz cat's eye.)Often, the name chrysoberyl is spoken in the same breath as that of the beryl group, the most well known representatives of which include the emerald and the aquamarine. The name 'chrysoberyl' comes from the Greek and means 'gold-coloured beryl'. In spite of its name, however, it is not actually a beryl at all. Together with alexandrite ,chrysoberyl forms an independent gemstone category, in which the former, which appears to change its colour, is regarded as the more attractive representative, though in fact it is quite definitely the chrysoberyl cat's eye which is entitled to stake that claim.From a mineralogical point of view, chrysoberyls are aluminium oxide containing beryllium, and thus actually have little in common with the beryls, which belong to the silicate family. Indeed, with their excellent hardness of 8.5 on the Mohs scale, they are clearly superior to the beryls. The popular chrysoberyls come in many nuances between lemon and greenish yellow, and in honey colours and shades from mint green to brownish green, and are mostly found in the gemstone deposits of Brazil, Sri Lanka or East Africa.