Written by Carolyn Doyle for customers of
The Dorado Company
and other visitors to the azgem.com website who subscribe.

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Usable Gems... and a little opinion.

Cats Eye Gems

Cats eye gems are the subject of this month's newsletter, the second in a series on optical phenomena gems.

Cats eye gems exhibit the optical effect known as chatoyancy. A chatoyant gem displays a thin band of reflected light on its surface when cut as a cabochon.

Cats eye gems display this effect due to one of three conditions... 

• It's a rock of fibrous construction
• It's a gem crystal with long, thin hollow inclusions
• Or, it's a gem crystal with long, thin rutile inclusions

Remember rutile inclusions from last month's discussion of star gems? The difference between cats eye gems and star gems is that all of the rutile inclusions are lined up side-by-side and run in the same direction.

In a star gem the rutile needles are placed (by nature) at sixty or ninety degrees across each other. The sixty degree arrangement shows a six rayed star, and the ninety degree arrangement shows a four rayed star.

The same cats eye effect occurs in a very beautiful rock called tiger eye, The effect is caused by the fibers that make up the rock.

The term "chatoyant" comes from a French word for cats eye.

A number of gem species can display the cats eye effect:

• Chrysoberyl
• Beryl
• Corundum (both sapphire and ruby)
• Spinel
• Tourmaline
• Garnet
• Apatite
• Scapolite
• Sillimanite
• Diopside
• Quartz

In the beryl gem family, most types can occur as cats eye gems. This includes emerald, but is found more often in aquamarine.

Cats eye gems have specific ways they are referred to in the gem and jewelry trade.

Chrysoberyl (shown at the beginning of this article) is referenced simply as cats eye.

For all other cats eye gems the gem name is added... spinel cats eye, aquamarine cats eye, and so on.

You might not guess it from the photos shown, but cats eye gems come in many colors.

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The special offer shown below ends soon. Get yours now.

Note: The offer shown above really is special.

The price of gold has nearly doubled since we made up this last batch of studs.

You can get some great new earrings at old gold prices.

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Industry News...

Sales Are Up

The reports I'm hearing indicate that fine jewelry sales are strong this holiday season.

I'm also hearing that overall sales of electronics, clothing, and some other goods are below projections by the big retailers. However, these same big retailers don't count gift cards as sales until the cards are used.

If you're like me, you gave a lot of gift cards this year. It's my experience that teenagers are requesting gift cards more and more each year.

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Jewelry Dealers

I put this mention in last month's newsletter, and I've received some very enthusiastic responses.

A Great Book

From the "I found a gem" file...

I recently downloaded a new e-book from Dr. Ken Evoy. As you probably have guessed before, I really like his stuff.

The book is about writing to communicate. It's called Make Your Content PREsell.

Once you get the book you'll see how it applies to selling your point... in spoken communications as well as written.

It applies to your life, not just business.

I think the information is worth a lot more than the $10 price. You can get more info by clicking on the title above.

The holidays are  coming  over!

Now that the busy holiday is past, you can take a well deserved rest. The few ring sizings and other customer adjustments are just part of the process, and shouldn't keep you from taking a little breather. 

You need to catch your breath because... The Tucson Gem Shows and Valentine's Day are coming up!

If you're going to the Tucson Shows, let us know. Maybe we can have dinner together.

If you're not going and need a stone (or several) send me an email.

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Jewelry Dealers Program

Do you enjoy jewelry and gems?

Do you enjoy talking with friends and co-workers?

Take a look at our great Jewelry Dealers Program.

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And before I go...

Thank you for another successful year. It is my great pleasure to have you as a customer.

2005 will be a gem of a year!

Carolyn Doyle

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