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CHRYSOBERYL.
Chrysoberyl, though hard, 8.5, and rather heavy, 3.5 to 3.8, with
lustre vitreous to resinous, is valued not so much in its normal state,
which may be yellowish green or brown, transparent or opaque, but
for its two famous varieties, the cat's-eye and alexandrite.
In Ceylon, the cat's-eye is the last thing an Oriental will part
with, for it is a luck-stone, a charm against evil. It is also the emblem
of endless prosperity. In Europe, its price is governed largely
by fashion. A fine karat stone may be worth ten dollars or a hundred.
When the Duke of Connaught gave one to his bride, Princess
Margaret of Prussia, it at once, in England, became the vogue.
In America, the cat's-eye is scarcely known. A few specimens
are at Tiffany's for those willing to pay the price, yet while of good
color, they have not always the perfect streak, which is white, infrequently
golden, and well-defined, running evenly from end to end
across the middle of the stone, opaque and cut en cabochon. The
ray should be single with the edges snowing brighter, particularly by
artificial light or in the sun, and exhibiting a brilliance almost phosphorescent.
Specimens in which the line spreads vaguely, or is repeated
one, two or three times, are not the best. Color is of no
consequence compared to the perfection of the ray. Olive green
seems most favored, but brown has its admirers. The ray, like the
asteria of the sapphire and ruby, is supposed to be composed of
multitudes of minute parallel tubes which, when structurally perfect,
by skillful cutting can be made to reflect light still more effectively.
Yet scientists do not explain this sufficiently clearly to impress it on
the lay mind.
Cymophane is the ancient name derived from a word signifying
"floating cloud," given to the opalescent variety, rather than to the
distinct cat's-eye specimen, which simply is the cymophane carried
by clever manipulators a step farther, it being possible to transform
the cymophane into the cat's-eye,
but not vice-versa.
The chrysoberyl cat's-eye has an understudy, so to speak, in
quartz, a far lighter and softer stone, and not found in any shade of
green, only in greenish or yellowish gray and brown. It is semitransparent,
the quartz cat's-eye, while the chrysoberyl generally is
opaque. When cut en cabochon it shows a band of light, but silky
rather than phosphorescent, resulting from the fibrous grain of the
stone itself, or an intimate admixture of asbestos. The quartz cannot
be compared to the chrysoberyl, and when side by side could never
be taken for it, even by a novice. Yet sometimes the false is sold for
the true, by irresponsible parties in Ceylon, where both abound.
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