Late Victorian Tiger's Eye Compass Pendant
Late Victorian Tiger's Eye Compass Pendant
$400.00
Description
DATE: Victorian, c.1890
Cool late Victorian pendant featuring a (working!!) miniature compass set within a shimmering block of tiger's eye. It dates from the late 19th century, circa 1890, the stone displaying excellent colour banding and strong chatoyancy. The formation of the mineral was long supposed to be an example of pseudomorphism, however a paper published in 2003 by Heaney and Fisher contests this:
"Tiger's-eye is an attractive and popular gemstone that is ubiquitous in stores that cater to rock and mineral collectors. For more than a century, textbooks and museum displays have identified the material as an archetype of pseudomorphism, i.e., the replacement of one mineral by another with the retention of the earlier mineral's shape. Our study has revealed that the textures responsible for the shimmer of tiger's-eye do not represent pseudomorphic substitution of quartz after preexisting crocidolite asbestos. Rather, we argue that tiger's-eye classically exemplifies synchronous mineral growth through a crack-seal vein-filling process."
STONES
Tiger's Eye
MEASUREMENTS
2.6 x 1.7cm
WEIGHT
6.8g
MARKS
No marks present
CONDITION
Good, a little beat up around the edges but structurally sound and (remarkably) the compass still works
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