Apache Tears

Weight is a decisive factor affecting the price of apache Tears. The price of a stone around 2.5 cm long is usually $1-$5/piece.

Apache Tears has poor toughness due to its glassy nature that lacks a crystalline structure, rendering it prone to cracking and chipping under stress or impact.

Apache Tears is generally resilient under most conditions but should be protected from extreme heat and harsh chemicals to preserve its integrity and luster for daily use.

Apache tears originate from siliceous lava flows, lava domes or ash-flow tuffs, often in close association with or embedded in, gray perlite. The spherules occur as cores within perlite masses that typically exhibit texture of concentrically curved, onion-skin fractures. Formation is apparently related to differential cooling and various alkali and water contents. Excessive water present during cooling and quenching of rhyolitic lava causes obsidian to hydrate (i.e., water entering the obsidian glass converts it to perlite). Where perlite is incompletely hydrated, fresh obsidian cores remain as pebbles of marekanite, or Apache tears.

"Apache tears" is the popular term for rounded pebbles of obsidian or "obsidianites" composed of black or dark-colored natural volcanic glass, usually of rhyolite composition and bearing conchoidal fracture. Internally the pebbles sometimes contain fine bands or microlites.

Apache tears are well known from tertiary volcanic terrain in numerous localities throughout the western United States, particularly Arizona, from where specimens were widely collected and sold in the lapidary and specimen trade. Several districts in western Nevada also have yielded abundant Apache tears eroding from tuff beds; such areas have been popularized in the lapidary trade through guides for rockhounds. Specimens from many of these sites have been avidly collected by rockhounds and lapidary enthusiasts, are often tumbled and may be considered semi-precious gemstones.

The name "Apache tear" comes from a legend of the Apache tribe: about 75 Apaches and the US Cavalry fought on a mountain overlooking what is now Superior, Arizona, in the 1870s. Facing defeat, the outnumbered Apache warriors rode their horses off the mountain to their deaths rather than be killed. The wives and families of the warriors cried when they heard of the tragedy; their tears turned into stone upon hitting the ground.

Apache Tears is a powerful stone that is used to provide emotional healing and bring comfort to those in need. The stone can be carried in an effort to offer protection and give the user a sense of balance and harmony. The idea is that it absorbs negative energy, allowing the user to move past obstacles and continue on their journey to a higher purpose.