Tiger's Eye

History and lore

Tiger's eye is a golden-brown quartz with a silky, shifting band of light, the effect gemmologists call chatoyancy, from the French for "cat-like". Turned in the hand, the bright band rolls across the polished dome like the light in an animal's eye, which gives the stone its name.

It is a newcomer to gem history. Claims that ancient Egyptians or Roman soldiers wore tiger's eye are common online but are not supported by securely identified finds. The stone became known in Europe in the nineteenth century from Griqualand West, in what is now the Northern Cape province of South Africa, and early specimens were costly curiosities. When large quantities were exported in the 1880s the price collapsed, and tiger's eye became one of the most familiar ornamental stones of the late Victorian era, cut into cameos, cufflinks, beads, seals and boxes.

In the traditions

Because it was unknown to them, tiger's eye has no place in the biblical breastplate, the foundations of Revelation, Marbode's lapidary or Agrippa's planetary lists. The older stone with comparable lore is the chrysoberyl cat's eye, the Navaratna gem of Ketu; tiger's eye is sometimes sold in India as an inexpensive substitute, but it is not the traditional stone. In many cultures an "eye" stone was thought to watch over its wearer, and tiger's eye has inherited this role in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern markets as a modern charm against the evil eye (see protective magic). Modern correspondence tables give it to the Sun for its golden fire, and crystal books pair it with Leo.

Meaning and symbolism

Modern crystal writers associate tiger's eye with courage, confidence, clear judgement and good fortune in practical affairs, linking it with the solar plexus chakra and with the steady watchfulness of the big cat. Red tiger's eye is described as more energising and blue hawk's eye as calming and clarifying. These meanings are modern and symbolic; scientific studies have not found that stones change mood, luck or health (see crystals, auras and energy).

The mineral

For more than a century tiger's eye was explained as a pseudomorph: quartz replacing fibres of crocidolite, the blue fibrous form of the amphibole riebeckite, whose iron then oxidised to golden brown. Research in the early 2000s proposed a different picture, in which repeated cracking and resealing of the rock let quartz and riebeckite fibres grow together in thin parallel veins. Either way, the parallel fibres scatter light into the moving band. Where the iron has not oxidised, the stone stays blue-grey and is called hawk's eye; brecciated, swirling material from Namibia and China is sold as pietersite.

Tiger's eye is 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale but can split along its fibres. Much on the market is treated: gentle heating turns golden stones red, bleaching gives pale "honey" tones, and dyes produce green, pink or purple. Because crocidolite is a form of asbestos, dust from cutting or grinding the rough must not be inhaled; finished, polished stones are sealed in quartz and are safe to wear. To show the eye at its best the stone is cut as a cabochon with the fibres parallel to its base. Clean it with warm soapy water.

Sources and further reading

• New interpretation of the origin of tiger's-eye — Peter J. Heaney and Donald M. Fisher, 2003
• Gems: Their Sources, Descriptions and Identification — Robert Webster, 1962
• Gemstones of the World — Walter Schumann, 1977
• The Curious Lore of Precious Stones — George Frederick Kunz, 1913