Cat's Eye Quartz
The cat's eye quartz (also cat's eye quartz ) is a massive, fibrous variety of the mineral quartz with ingrown, parallel arranged hornblende - asbestos ( Amiant ).
In its pure form, cat-eye quartz is white, but it can also take on a gray, beige or brown color through various foreign admixtures. The colors yellow and green result from pseudomorphosis . Only the cut in the shape of a cabochon gives the mineral the chatoyance effect, also known as the cat's eye effect, which it has in common with the other quartz varieties, hawk eye and tiger eye .
Like all quartz, it is sensitive to acids, but especially the varieties with the cat's eye effect, as this is caused by hollow channels or embedded crystal needles that make the stone porous.
Education and Locations
Locations include Brazil , Bavaria in Germany , India and Sri Lanka (previously: Ceylon).
The Hermann Müller facility was built in the Theresienstein park near Hof in memory of the cat-eye quartz finds there.
use
Cat's eye quartz is used as a gemstone and in this form it is called quartz cat's eye . The sole designation cat's eye is only given to chrysoberyl . For all other minerals or their varieties with the cat's eye effect, the mineral name must be mentioned!
See also
literature
- Prof. Dr. Walter Schumann: Precious stones and gemstones , BLV Verlag (Munich), ISBN 3-405-12488-3