Tigers Eye

Tiger’s Eye is a decorative variety of Quartz best known for its golden, honey-brown and reddish-brown bands and its striking optical effect known as chatoyancy. When the stone is cut and polished correctly, a bright band of reflected light appears to move across the surface as the stone is turned. This resemblance to the reflective eye of an animal is the reason behind the name Tiger’s Eye. The effect is produced by extremely fine, parallel fibrous structures within the material. Tiger’s Eye commonly forms through alteration of fibrous blue crocidolite-bearing material. During geological alteration, Quartz replaces or surrounds the original fibrous structures while iron released from the crocidolite oxidises into iron-rich minerals that contribute the familiar golden-brown colouring. This means the original fibrous texture can remain preserved even though the mineral composition has changed significantly. Blue material in which more of the original crocidolite-related character remains is commonly sold as Hawk’s Eye or Blue Tiger’s Eye, while heating golden Tiger’s Eye can produce the deeper reddish material commonly sold as Red Tiger’s Eye. Tiger’s Eye is widely used in cabochons, beads, jewellery, carvings, spheres, palmstones and decorative objects because polishing strongly enhances its distinctive chatoyant appearance.