Tigers Eye Tumbled Stones from South Africa

Tigers eye tumbled stones fine grade, highly polished and many are fascinatingly chatoyant. This well known variety of the mineral quartz is one of the old time favourites in the world of gemstones and some of the finest tigers eye comes from Griqualand West in the Northern Cape, South Africa.

This distinctive stone which is also known as tiger eye, was not only named because of the similarity in colour to a tigers eye but also because of the optical phenomenon associated with it. Chatoyance which comes from French and means cat's eye is a description of the way that light interacts with fibres within the stone and although the phenomenon can be seen in several gemstones, it's best known for being present in tigers eye. For chatoyance to be fully appreciated a stone needs to be gently moved back and forth in good light but the effect may not be as visible in some stones as it is in others.

Although best known as a brown and yellow coloured stone the exact colour of tigers eye can vary. Blue which is known as hawks eye occurs naturally but other colours can also be produced by exposing the stone to heat. Heat treatments are widely used to enhance or change the colour of gemstones and both the red and black varieties of tigers eye are the result of heat treatments.

These stones come from South Africa and as with all tumbled stones, weights and sizes do vary slightly from piece to piece.

Drop by our page on Flickr to see a full sized photograph of these tigers eye healing crystals.

Empathic warrior crystals are stones which have at some point in time sustained some kind of damage, usually a chip or fracture. With rocks and minerals having evolved over millions of years we do not believe in throwing stones away because of minor damage so instead offer them for sale at a significantly reduced price. Empathic warrior crystals are not always available and should this be the case, a refund will be issued before remaining items in the order are processed. For more information read our article on empathic warrior crystals.