Stone Explorer Tiger’s eye

Compare tiger’s eye, side by side.

Golden, red and hawk’s eye share one material: quartz with aligned fibrous inclusions. Set any two side by side, or follow one proposed growth model in five steps.

In our shop: all tiger’s eye pieces →

Three records

Two ways in · pick one

Each specimen opens its own file.

How to read the wall

One material. Different colours and claims.

A photograph shows colour and the moving band. It cannot establish locality, or whether a colour came from heating.

Material

Quartz with fibres

Golden, red and hawk’s eye share one material: quartz with aligned fibrous inclusions.

Colour

Gold, red and blue

Altered fibres give gold and brown; less altered fibres stay blue; heating can turn brown-yellow material red.

Boundary

A colour name is not a treatment record

Bleaching, heating and dyeing all occur in the trade. A colour name does not settle treatment status.

Sources and image credits

Every claim keeps its scope.

The references below describe tiger’s eye as a material, how it may have formed and how it is treated. The photographs describe three particular pieces. None of it certifies a BE. lot.

Jin et al. (2025), Structures Behind the SpectacleMaterial reference · scope of use

Use: Quartz structure, amphibole inclusions, blue/gold colour, competing formation accounts and pietersite boundary.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

Heaney & Fisher (2003), New interpretation of the origin of tiger’s-eyeMaterial reference · scope of use

Use: Crack-seal model for studied South African material; discussed in the GIA review.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

Penn State, Closer look at tiger’s eye stoneMaterial reference · scope of use

Use: Institutional account of authors’ study; scope limited to examined South African specimens.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

GIA, Fall 1989 Gems & Gemology, p. 165Material reference · scope of use

Use: Heating brownish-yellow tiger’s eye can produce a red stone.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

Geological Survey of Western Australia: PseudofossilsMaterial reference · scope of use

Use: Tiger iron as a banded, iron-rich rock that contains tiger’s-eye material.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

GIA: An Introduction to Gem TreatmentsMaterial reference · scope of use

Use: Bleaching of tiger’s eye; dyeing of quartz and chalcedony.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

Rasmeni et al. (2016), Tiger’s eye in the Northern Cape ProvinceMaterial reference · scope of use

Use: Yellow, blue and variegated tiger’s eye recorded in the Prieska area.
Limit: This reference does not identify or certify a BE. specimen.
Link: Open source ↗

Specimen photographsImage credits · reference specimens

Golden tiger’s eye: Ra’ike · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized; colour and original labels preserved.
Red tiger’s eye: CrimeaGems · CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped; colour unchanged.
Hawk’s eye: Alice Chodura · CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped; colour unchanged.

Formation illustrationExplanatory model · not site data

Use: Illustrates the bounded formation pathway described in this Explorer.
Limit: The drawing is not a measured field section, microscopy image or record of a BE. product.

Questions about Stone Explorer

Which tiger’s eye varieties can I compare?

Golden tiger’s eye, red tiger’s eye and hawk’s eye. All three are quartz with aligned fibrous inclusions.

How does tiger’s eye turn red?

Heating brown-yellow tiger’s eye can turn it red. GIA recorded this result in 1989.

What does the tiger’s eye formation view show?

One proposed growth model for studied South African material, in five steps.