Tigers Eye

Tigers eye

Chatoyant Quartz as it is also known.

There are three varieties of this type of quartz. It is the inclusion of croicidolite (blue asbestos) that causes a cat's eye effect known as chatoyancy.

Each stone will display different colors according the exact nature and amount of the inclusions. Grayish yellow, semi translucentappearance of the cat's eye is due to inclusions of croicidolite and , less commonly hornblende, it has quite a silky luster.

Tiger's Eye is black with iron oxide staining that gives the yellow and golden brown stripes. Hawk's Eye forms when the croicidolite changes to quartz but the blue-gray or blue-green color of the original material remains.

Mohs Hardness of 7 with a trigonal crystal structure.

This Tigers eye in its natural form.

This quartz composite gemstone begins as a fibrous blue mineral called croicidolite, which is comprised of iron and sodium. The transformation begins as clear quartz becomes imbedded between the fibers of crocidolite, and the completed process will result in one of two gemstones; a blue stone called Hawk’s Eye or the golden brown stone called Tiger’s Eye.

As the gem is created, the iron and sodium are completely dissolved, the quartz takes on the fibrous formations as well as the blue color of crocidolite. This creates the parallel lines within the gemstone giving it the liquid luster and light movement the stone is so loved for.

Even though the iron and sodium dissolve, traces of hydrated oxide of iron are left behind between the crocidolite and quartz, creating the yellows that are common to both Hawk’s Eye & Tiger Eye. How much of this mineral is deposited will determine how red, yellow or brown a Tiger Eye will be. The rarer blue Hawk’s Eye will have only the slightest amounts.

As soon as Tigers eye are being polished, the shiny gold bands become beautifully visible.

South Africa is the only place Tiger Eye forms, very near many of the country’s diamond mines. Just outside of Griquatown there are mountains that are made up almost entirely of tiger's eye. At one time tiger's eye was as controlled and costly as diamonds, until two competing traders glutted the market.

Tiger's Eye is the Planetary stone for Gemini (May 21-Jun. 20) and the accepted gem for the ninth wedding anniversary.

Tiger's eye is a member of the quartz group of chalcedonies. It is one of the chatoyant gemstones. Chatoyancy exhibits a changeable silky luster as light is reflected within the thin parallel fibrous bands. This effect is due to the fibrous structure of the material.

Tiger iron is composed of tiger's eye, red jasper and black hematite. The rippled wavy bands of color often resemble a scenic view.

Marra Mamba is a form of tiger iron found in one area of Australia near Mount Brockman. It is a very rare type of tiger iron that contains shades of red, green, yellow, and blue. This area has been mined out for many years so very little of the "true" marra mamba is available today.

This is a large, rough piece of the Marra Mamba found in Australia.

The exceptional looking piece of marra mamba tiger's iron rough from Australia looks like the evening sun setting behind a mountain range.  It has a greenish cast with shades of brown, golden yellow, red and blue veining.  Because the minerals in this stone are of varying hardness, it is difficult to polish without under cutting.

Many legends about quartz say that wearing tiger's eye (which is a form of quartz) is beneficial for health and spiritual well being. Legend also says it is a psychic protector, great for business, and an aid to achieving clarity.

This is a spectacular piece carved out of Tigers eye.

Pietersite was discovered by Sid Pieters in 1962 while he was prospecting farm land in Namibia, Africa. After his discovery, he registered the find in the mineral records of Britain. His discovery was published in 1964, and the material was named Pietersite.

There has been some confusion on this stone as it is often called the Tempest Stone, Eagle's Eye, and said to truly be a mix of blue and gold tiger's eye quartz which has then been folded in the earth.

Pietersite gemstones crystallize in the form of masses, the structure is a result of inclusion in jasper. The Pietersite stones mineral exhibits an energetic quality like the quartz.

Mohs Hardness of 5 with a trigonal crystal structure.

Currently there are only two known sources of Pietersite; China and Africa. These two forms of Pietersite, are similar, but still somewhat different from each other. The Chinese Pietersite's fibrous mineral is a magnesium-rich alkalic amphibole. The African (Namibian) variety is mainly crocidolite.

Rough China Pietersite

The China form of Pietersite is said to have been discovered in 1993 but did not come to market until 1997. This China Pietersite exhibits slightly different color variations from Mr. Pieter's original mineral, but both are beautiful and are now universally recognized as Pietersite.

This cross were carved and polished out of African Pietersite. Note the amazing blue fibres!

The material found in China was formed from a mineral very similar to crocidolite, named torendrikite. Chinese Pietersite has striking combinations of gold, red and blue color segments which sometimes also includes a deep golden brown color.

Regardless of the source, Pietersite will always have brecciated, fibrous bands of blue, gold and/or red tiger eye type fibers in quartz.
The fibrous structure in pietersite has been folded, stressed, even fractured and/or broken apart via the Earth's geologic processes.

The fibrous materials have then been reformed and naturally recemented together by quartz. Stones and crystals that go through this process are referred to as brecciated, creating a finished product with multiple colors, hues and superb chatoyancy.

While Pietersite has the lovely chatoyancy of tiger eye, it is not found in continuously structured bands or fibers, more in swirls, swathes and fibrous (sometimes linear) segments. Thus the structure of the fibrous streaks in Pietersite may appear rather chaotic, and can flow or exist in many directions side-by-side like bold paint strokes.

This Pietersite has a variation of the blue, gold and red colors all together

Colors include various blues, golds and reds, that may appear together or alone. Blue is the rarest color, followed by red.

The blues range from a baby blue to dark midnight hue. Golds can be light to very deep and rich, sometimes having a reddish hue.

All fibrous color variations will have a superb and striking chatoyancy, the bright and subtly changing shimmer of color that moves along the surface of a gemstone as it is viewed from varying angles.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this article and that you now know a little bit more about Tigers eye.

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