Known as tangiwai to the Maori, meaning tear-water, bowenite is a stone most often associated with funereal jewellery in Maori tradition. However, many Maori communities actually prized it even more than nephrite jade for its uses in jewellery. Most commonly possessing green and blue hues, very few realize that it also comes in white; or that it occurs as seams running through sections of other forms of serpentine.
 
Measuring in at 72mm long and 31mm wide at its widest point, this roimata or tear-shaped drop pendant shows a pattern of intrusion of the white bowenite into cracks in a deposit of more typical serpentine, producing startling green-white veins of gemmy white bowenite interspersed with mottled serpentine patches. This creates a very attractive visual pattern that draws the eye, making for an understated yet interesting piece of jewellery that can fit in as easily with formal wear as it can with everyday apparel.