Amulet against evil eye, in form of oval piece of brown and white banded agate resembling eye, carried by fisherman, Lovett collection, from Devon, English, 1901-1911

Brown and white ringed agate resembles an eye and was carried by fishermen in Devon, England, to protect from the ‘evil eye’. The evil eye has been a widespread belief that some people can cause harm to others simply by looking at them in a certain way. This ‘look’ may be given deliberately, in an attempt to cause harm, or accidentally, perhaps because of feelings of envy . The harm may take the form of bad luck, illness or death.

The amulet was a gift to the Wellcome collection from Edward Lovett (1852-1933), a collector of British amulets and charms. The amulet is shown here with two others worn to protect against the evil eye (A665895 and A666110).