The Lore of Apache Tears Obsidianĭrawing from the stone's history, ancient lore holds that those who possess or hold an Apache Tear should never shed a tear again. Upon hitting ground, their tears turned into what we now know as Apache Tears Obsidian. When they learned of the tragedy, their wives and children mourned and cried hard for over a month. Their demise caused sorrow to their loved ones left behind. Rather than be killed in battle, the warriors rode their horses off the mountain to their deaths. The Apaches were eventually trapped and outnumbered by the US Cavalry. In the 1870s, it is believed that 75 Apache warriors fought with the US Cavalry on a mountain in Arizona. The stone got its name from a legend of the Native American Apache tribe. This means the pebbles can get easily scratched by a knife blade. In terms of hardness, they fall between 5 and 5.5 on the Mohs scale. The pebbles can appear black and opaque, but they are actually translucent when you hold them against a light.Ī closer look at an Apache Tears Obsidian specimen will reveal its translucence. Having a glassy luster, raw Apache Tears Obsidian displays a conchoidal fracture and can have a jagged surface. Made of silicon dioxide, the stone is considered a volcanic glass with a similar composition to Rhyolite.

The Physical Properties of Apache Tears Obsidian Read on to discover more about the stone's history and properties. Popular extraction sites of Apache Tears Obsidian are located in the southwestern part of the US and some parts of Mexico. They form as oval-shaped pebbles through the rapid cooling of viscous lava from volcanoes and they commonly occur in lava domes and ash-flow tuffs. Apache Tears are a small variety (about 2 inches or less in diameter) of the igneous rock Obsidian.

Apache tear obsidian properties