Tiger’s Eye Polished Freeform — Golden & Dark Brown Chatoyant Bands — Field Find

THE FIND
A polished tiger’s eye freeform — golden and dark brown chatoyant bands shifting with a silky, light-catching movement as the viewing angle changes. The optical effect is immediately visible and strong on this piece. A stone that earns its name.

WHAT WE KNOW
Tiger’s eye is a chatoyant variety of quartz that forms through the pseudomorphic replacement of crocidolite (blue asbestos) fibers by silica — the parallel fibrous structure of the original asbestos is preserved in the quartz replacement, and it is those aligned microfibers that produce the chatoyancy (the silky, moving light band) through a phenomenon called the cat’s eye effect. The golden-brown coloration is produced by iron oxide (limonite/goethite) staining the quartz fibers during the replacement process. The chatoyant band moves as the stone rotates because the fibers reflect light most strongly when perpendicular to the light source. Most tiger’s eye on the market originates from South Africa, though the locality of this specimen has not been independently verified. Weight not confirmed — please update before publishing.

THE STORY
Tiger’s eye is one of the more geologically interesting chatoyant stones because its optical effect is a record of a complete mineral replacement — the crocidolite that originally formed here no longer exists as crocidolite, but its fibrous structure was preserved perfectly in the silica that replaced it. The chatoyancy is the ghost of an earlier mineral, preserved in the geometry of its successor. The golden color is iron’s contribution, oxidizing in the silica matrix over geological time.

WHY WE CHOSE IT
The chatoyancy on this piece is strong and well-defined — the golden and dark brown bands are clearly differentiated and the silky light band is visible in the photographs. The polished freeform allows the chatoyancy to be appreciated from multiple angles. A visually immediate piece that photographs well and handles well.

ABOUT THIS PIECE
Type: Tiger’s eye polished freeform (chatoyant quartz pseudomorph after crocidolite)
Weight: [CONFIRM WEIGHT]
Locality: Not independently verified
Condition: Polished freeform — please review photographs for chatoyancy, banding, and natural variation.
Quantity: 1 — one of a kind.