The Franciscan Crown is a set of prayer Beads of seven decades in commemoration of the seven joys of Mary (the Annunciation, Visitation, Birth of Jesus, Adoration of the Magi, Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the resurrection of Jesus, and the assumption of the Mary and her coronation in heaven), in use among the members of the three orders of St. Francis.
The Franciscan Crown dates back to the year 1422. This Franciscan Crown necklace was designed and hand made by Beth Maxwell Boyle. This is suitable for a man or a women but it is a robust piece and probably is larger than a small women would wear. This piece is made of beads of Tiger eye. It is a member of the quartz group of chalcedonies. It is one of the chatoyant gemstones. Chatoyancy exhibits a changeable silky luster as light is reflected within the thin parallel fibrous bands. This effect is due to the fibrous structure of the material.
The heavy lobster clasp and spiral, cage, terminal bead are sterling silver as are the decorative small beads between decades. The wire wrap on the Latin cross is also sterling.
There are 7 small Greek crosses made of tiger-eye representing the 7 joys of Mary. Tiger's eye is mined in Western Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada, India, Namibia, and Burma.
