Semi-Precious Gemstones | Tiger's Eye

Tiger's Eye Jewelry

Source: Burma, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Namibia, South Africa, USA

Tiger's eye (aka Tigers eye, Tiger eye, Tigereye, Crocidolite Cat's-eye) is a chatoyant yellow to reddish-brown stone made of primarily of silicon dioxide. It was originally thought that Tiger's eye was a fibrous silicified crocidolite (blue asbestos) that had been substituted with quartz through pseudomorphous replacement.

According to a 2003 article by Donald M Fisher and Peter J. Heaney, published on the Geological Society of America website, the quartz crystal growth in Tiger's eye is synchronous with the crocidolite through a "crack-seal vein-filling process": "Our study has revealed that the textures responsible for the shimmer of tiger's-eye do not represent pseudomorphic substitution of quartz after preexisting crocidolite asbestos. Rather, we argue that tiger's-eye classically exemplifies synchronous mineral growth through a crack-seal vein-filling process".

Tiger's eye derives its name from its color and reflective qualities that are strikingly similar to an actual tiger's eye. Red varieties of Tiger's eye stones are often created using heat-treatment to enhance color. There are unusual blue varieties that are sometimes referred to as "Hawk's Eye."

Tiger's Eye is a semi-hard material with a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. Tiger's Eye is usually cut and shaped into a cabochon to maximize its chatoyant quality. Tiger's Eye has a refractive index of 1.544.

Chemical composition: SiO₂