Tiger Eye

Tiger Eye Rough - Image Courtesy of www.crystalsrocksandgems.com

Tiger Eye (or Hawks eye as the blue variety is known), a member of the quartz family, gets its chatoyant  nature (a cats eye type effect) as a result of its crocidolite content. Crocidolite is a mineral which is essentially fossilized asbestos fibres and is a blue colour.

African Tiger Eye Pendant - $30

How does Tiger Eye Form?
Tiger Eye is a member of the quartz family. It begins as blue mineral called crocidolite (Asbestos). This blue mineral is made up of iron and sodium components. The formation of Tiger Eye begins when quartz slowly replaces the crocidolite over time. The quartz embeds itself between the fibrous material. Once the process is completed, the resulting stone is either a golden brown (Tiger Eye) or a brilliant shimmering blue (Hawks Eye). As the stone forms, the iron and sodium content is completed removed. The replacing quartz takes on the same fibrous structure of the original material giving the stone its parallel lines. Because of the crystaline nature of the quartz, the movement of lights across the stone and its luster results. It is this property that makes tiger eye so popular and sort after.

African Tiger Eye Pendant - $45

What gives Tiger Eye its colour?
Although quartz replaces the iron and sodium content during the formation of the stone, trace amounts of iron oxide and other inclusions remain within the material. These trace amounts embed themselves between the remaining crocidolite and quartz. This composiyion creates the yellows and golden browns that are common in the stone. The blue Hawks Eye is a more 'pure' form of the stone having little inclusions remain but is rarer than the more common yellow. The third form of tiger eye, being red tiger eye, does not occur naturally. It comes about by heat treating tiger eye.

West Australian Tiger Eye Pendant - $20

Where Does Tiger Eye Occur?
The largest deposits of Tiger Eye are generally found in Africa, particularly South Africa and Namibia. Other deposits of this gemstone occur in Australia (particularly Western Australia), Burma, India, United States, Brazil, Canada, China, Korea and Spain. 

Tiger Iron
Tiger Iron is another common form of Tiger Eye which occurs mainly in South Africa and Western Australia. Tiger Iron is a banded gemstone comprising of lineal bands of Tiger Eye, Red Jasper and Black Hematite.
 

West Australian Tiger Iron Pendant - Custom made pendant

Lapidary Point of View
From a lapidary point of view, Tiger Eye is fantastic to cut. It is relatively hard measuring 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale (some of the iron stone surrounding tiger eye can be a lot harder). In saying this, it can be somewhat frustrating at times as there is often differences in hardness between layers/bands which can cause a endless undercutting - something that can be very irritating. I have started plenty of Tiger Eye cabochons that have been discarded half way through as a result of this. The final product comes up with a magnificent shine with a beautiful chatoyant/lustres finish - This is what keeps me coming back to cutting the stuff!

All the pendants in this article have been cut by Jaka Gems. I am happy to consider custom orders of this gemstone as I currently have a reasonable supply of rough. Thanks for reading my blog! I would love for you to share this, or other articles on this blog, so feel free!

Until next time!