This pin was somewhat of an impulse buy… There’s no artist hallmarks, and I think the top stone might be Bisbee. I looked online for a similar one but I can’t really find anything comparable. I’m including photos in different light because the matrix looks different in different lighting.
Also, around how old does the pin look? It appears 1970’s/1980’s to me. Any opinions on this are welcomed because I am stumped 
I love this. Your impulse was a good one.
This pin is witty and observant.
What I love is that the head & eyes are a single stone. And that stone just happens to include two closely spaced, lighter-colored areas which look almost incandescent against the darker background, like an owl’s eyes hit by firelight in the dark.
In other words, only that particular stone could have been used to make this particular pin.
I can’t answer any of your questions, I’m just enjoying how this artist thought out and realized this piece.
Thank you! I just thought it was so interesting how the stone helps make the owl. Like the jeweler saw the stone and created the pin around the stone. I was even thinking it might be Mexican for a bit. But the turquoise looks American.
What a great piece. Those are Bisbee eyes, and what a perfect stone for two eyes. The other stone looks to be a piece of tiger eye. Something like this it is hard to tell the age. The only information we have is the Bisbee stone. Today the artist would think twice about using it for such a piece because of the cost per carat, especially along side a piece of tiger eye. I don’t think of it being that old, but that is just a guess. Very cool pin.
I was originally so confused because if this was Bisbee, why an artist would use tiger’s eye for a secondary stone. As far as tiger eye goes, it’s nice and flashy. But still, it’s just tiger eye. So many questions!! Thanks for your confirmation of the stones, my impulse buy was worth it.
I thought it was Tiger’s Eye when I first saw it, but I wasn’t about to say that!
If it is Tiger Eye, I would’ve guessed it was some novelty thing & not Turquoise.
If it’s Turquoise, then I would ask if the Tiger Eye was a replacement stone for the original stone that was there before?
Tiger’s Eye was a big thing in the '70s (briefly), if I remember correctly, because it was cheap & mysterious looking, imo.
That first pic is kinda haunting, btw!
Any idea of an approximate value, Jason?
We still get tiger eye pieces from time to time. I imagine this is the original pin, tiger eye and Bisbee. This is one of those cases when that stone is probably more valuable if you popped it out of the piece. It looks like it could be 3 carat stone. We don’t see much Bisbee, but the last time we did everything was over $20 per carat. This stone has that very nice Bisbee blue and chocolate matrix. You probably have a $100 rock, a $25 owl.
Thanks for your response, unfortunately I figured that as well. Still, he’s unique! I wonder what the artists thought process was when they decided to use tiger eye.
