Tiger’s Eye Polished Specimen — Gold, Bronze & Deep Brown Bands, 23g — Field Find

THE FIND
A polished tiger’s eye specimen, 23g — shifting bands of gold, bronze, and deep brown with the chatoyant shimmer that moves across the polished surface like a living ripple of light. The polish brings out the full depth of the fiber alignment in a way raw specimens don’t.

WHAT WE KNOW
Tiger’s eye is a chatoyant variety of quartz formed through pseudomorphic replacement of fibrous crocidolite (blue asbestos) by silica, preserving the parallel fiber structure responsible for the chatoyancy. The golden-to-brown color range results from iron oxide within the preserved fibers. In polished form, the curved surface maximizes the chatoyant effect — the band of reflected light is more concentrated and mobile than on a flat or raw surface. This specimen weighs 23g and has been polished to a smooth finish. Locality not independently verified.

THE STORY
Polishing tiger’s eye is a lapidary decision with optical consequences: a curved, smooth surface focuses the chatoyant band into a sharper, more mobile line of light, while a flat cut produces a broader, more diffuse shimmer. This polished form — somewhere between a freeform and a cabochon — lets the chatoyancy move freely across the surface as the viewing angle changes. At 23g it sits between our 11g and 17g tiger’s eye specimens in size, with the added visual depth that polishing provides.

WHY WE CHOSE IT
The chatoyancy on this polished piece is strong and mobile — the gold and bronze bands shift clearly with the viewing angle. The polish is even and smooth. A strong hand piece or desk specimen for anyone drawn to optical minerals, and a good complement to the raw tiger’s eye specimens in the collection.

ABOUT THIS PIECE
Type: Polished tiger’s eye (chatoyant quartz pseudomorph)
Weight: 23g
Locality: Not independently verified
Condition: Polished specimen — please review photographs for chatoyancy, banding, and natural variation.
Quantity: 1 — one of a kind.