Some facts about the Tiger eye

Tiger’s eye (also called Tiger eye) is a beautiful gemstone made from the mineral quartz.

Quartz can be grouped into three types: macrocrystalline (the crystals are large enough to be seen by the naked eye), microcrystalline (the crystals are tiny and can only be seen with the aid of microscopic equipment) and cryptocrystalline quartz.

The Tiger’s eye belongs to the ‘microcrystalline’ variety of quartz.

The quartz crystals are made of silicon dioxide. When quartz contains fibers of crocidolite it produces two types of gemstones, the Tiger’s eye and the Hawk eye.

Crocidolite is a bluish colored asbestos and is made of iron and sodium. It’s commonly used in ‘asbestos-cement products.’

When the fibers of crocidolite in the quartz contains amounts of hydrated oxide of iron, the color changes to a golden brown to reddish brown color thus producing the Tiger’s eye gemstone.

The Tiger’s eye is a golden to reddish brown gem.

The strips of gold and brown colors bring out the gem's beauty and elegance especially when its cut and polished.

A unique characteristic of the Tiger eye is the chatoyancy effect it gives out.

Chatoyancy is referred to as an ‘optical reflectance effect’ given out by some gemstones when light shines on it.

The Tiger eye is a 7 on the Mohs scale. The Moh’s scale is used to measure the hardness of a mineral/gemstone.

The popular cut of the Tiger’s eye is the “cabochon cut” (dome-shaped cut) as this helps bring out the chatoyancy effect in the stone better than other cuts.

Sri Lanka, Brazil and Burma are some countries this breathtaking gem is found at although it was mined extensively in Cape Province South Africa at one time.

South Africa Tiger’s eye

Un-cut Tiger’s eye stones were exported to many countries at one time. But in 1968 an embargo was put on the exporting of un-cut Tiger’s eye gems from South Africa by the Minister of Mines of the Republic of South Africa, Dr. Carol de Wet.

The Minister’s intention was for the un-cut stones mined in South Africa to be cut and polished within the country.

The Tiger’s eye is believed to have magical powers such as bring good fortune, protection and aid in ‘health and spiritual well being.’ Some claim the gem is an ‘emotional balancer’ having the power to get rid of ‘excess energy’ in a person.

Roman soldiers are said to have worn a Tiger’s eye when going out to battle for they believed it would protect them from the enemy.

© 2012 Suranee Perera