With limited availability, collectors compete for ownership of scapolite, including the sought after cat's eye version of the gem. It exhibits remarkably sharp eyes full of deep red radiance and shimmer.
The name scapolite comes from the Greek "skapos" meaning shaft. The popular long rod form of this brightly colored gemstone occurs in two-dimensional forms with four sides and angles. First detected in 1913 in the Mogok Stone Tract of upper Burma, scapolite offers an appealing array of colors like white, neutral, olive, gray, yellow, brown, crimson and pink. The technical term for the cat's eye effect is chatoyancy, from the French for "eye of the cat" (oeil de chat). The chatoyant effect comes from the reflection of light through fibrous materials or channels in the gemstone. The absence of this needle-like feature would mean that the scapolite came from a faceted cut stone.
LOCATION: Madagascar
Currently, scapolite can be obtained from many parts of the world including Canada, the United States, Brazil, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Canada and Burma. Madagascar offers the best quality of cat's eye scapolite with fine brilliance and a vitreous luster. We acquire the red scapolite cat's eye from the Soamiakatra mines of Madagascar.