Bucherer_ColoredGemstones

CHRYSOBERYL
The sparkling honey-yellow to greenish brown chrysoberyl owes its prominence to two
rare varieties: the chrysoberyl cat’s eye and the alexandrite.
Master gemstone cutters and polishers take a semitransparent or opaque chrysoberyl
and magically transform it into a cat’s eye: a silvery sash of light appears to hover above
the surface of the gemstone, as if freed from its confines. The name of this phenomenon,
found in a number of gemstone types, is chatoyancy. The most precious of them all,
however, is the chrysoberyl cat’s eye.
MINERAL GROUP COMPOSITION COLOR OCCURRENCE
Chrysoberyl
Hardness: 8.5
Beryllium aluminate.
The trace elements that give
the stone its color are iron
and chromium
Gold-yellow,
green-yellow
Brazil, Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, Tanzania,
Zimbabwe, Madagascar,
Russia
33