Handmade Gemstone Jewelry - Tiger's Eye

Tiger eye and jasper necklace

Tiger eye earrings

Tiger's eye is a stone that has always fascinated me. It has a mysterious, elusive quality. I had a bracelet with a tiger's eye gemstone in it when I was in high school and I remember being quite fascinated with the rippling changes visible in the stone.

Tiger's eye (also called tiger eye and tiger iron) is a form of quartz, in the chalcedony family of gemstones. It glitters with a small ray of light on the surface of the stone, much like the eye of a cat. It is one of the chatoyant gemstones that displays a silky luster as the light goes over the stone. The cutting of the stone is very important to bring out the chatoyant quality of the stone.

This is one stone I particularly like when it is cut with a flat surface because the rippling, silky luster is very visible, although I have seen some beautiful and ornate carved tiger's eye gemstones that still display the chatoyancy.

Tiger's eye was first discovered in the early 1800s in South Africa, so it doesn't have a long history and was not widely used by ancient civilizations. The most commonly seen color is a brown-gold, but it is also found in red, which is a cherry chocolate color, and blue which varies in color from deep dark blue, to blue and brownish streaks.

Tiger's eye helps us achieve our goals by increasing our awareness of inner resources. It is a very good stone for grounding and focus. It is also said to bring good luck, wealth and protection to the wearer.

Tiger's eye is mined in Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada, India, Namibia, and BurmaTiger's eye has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness with 10 being the hardest.