Tiger Eye After Hortense Necklace

Queen Hortense's sapphire and diamond necklace was stolen from the Louvre last year. Whether it still exists as a piece, or whether the stones were pulled and the setting destroyed, nobody knows. The inventory record is still there. The necklace is not.

The center stone is tiger eye from South Africa: chatoyant quartz formed by the pseudomorphic replacement of crocidolite with silica. The cat's-eye band moves across the surface as the light angle changes. The stone does some neat optical work.

The diagonal bronze glass framework structures the piece, with gray junction beads at the intersections and a cobalt blue seed bead strand running the lower edge. Four white and gray iridescent faceted glass drops hang from the bottom points. Goldstone ovals, copper crystal suspended in glass, sit alongside black glass to pull the warm tiger eye into the cooler register the cobalt demands. Wear it with a deep teal or cobalt square or v-neck top.

Construction

• Tiger eye center stone, South Africa, chatoyant quartz, crocidolite pseudomorph
• Goldstone oval, copper crystal suspension in glass
• Black glass oval
• Bronze glass diagonal framework
• Gray glass junction beads
• Cobalt blue seed bead lower strand
• White/gray iridescent faceted glass drops, 4 points
• Nickel-free lobster claw clasp