Silver Tigereye?

I've been browsing Ebay today and I ran across someone advertising silver tigereye. Is this for real? Ya think it could be ulexite?

Hi Chassidy,

I'm not sure if this is the case for what you saw, but I have heard that some people are selling slabs of fiber optic material, died a variety of colors and being given some misleading name that makes it sound like the stuff is actually a naturally formed mineral. Given that this is taking place, I'd be awful leery of anything being called "tiger's-eye" right now... If the seller wouldn't give me a written guarantee that the stuff is natural or I get my money back, I'd keep my wallet in my pocket...

[Of course, if anyone likes the stuff - whether it is a natural material or an artificial one - and wants to get it, then they should most certainly do so. - Nothing wrong with artificials - just long as that is what they are billed as being.]

Regards

Alan

Thanks Alan! The truth is, I don't even WANT the "silver tigereye," but I admit to being curious if something by that title even exists!

I just happened upon this website and I'm soooo excited...even though I'm just a casual 'rock hound.'

Since we're on the subject of ebay, I had been looking for a long time for ajoite, which I found in Tuscon, AZ at the show last February but it was uber expensive. I found a "ajoite pendant" that I did buy because even if it's not ajoite, it's really a beautiful specimen, but I'm just curious. It's such a rare substance, and I bought this piece for a mere $30. What are your thoughts? Do ya think that people can just happen across deals like that?

Chassidy

Ajoite is one of those minerals that is, in general, very rare, but at one or two specific localities is found in a *reasonable* abundance. So it's right to be classed as a rare mineral, but at the same time pieces of it (or more usually, pieces of quartz with small amounts of Ajoite as blue inclusions or coatings) are not that difficult to come by.


Jolyon

I too have seen some of the "silver tigereye" and here in Michigan they are also calling it "Eagle Eye". It is "real stone" not a fiber optic material, and it is a chatoyant silver/grey much like the tiger eye chatoyant golden/brown. Do not know if "Eagle Eye" is correct either!

Back to lapidary stuff, but here's the accepted list as I know it:

Tigers Eye: Yellow (altered Crocoite in Quartz)
Falcons eye: Blue (unaltered Crocoite in Quartz)
Ox eye: Red (? Crocoite in quartz)

Tiger Iron is a mix, of what I never checked.

Colorless (silver) "tigers eye" like material is a new one on me, but if Linda knows of a deposit, then the coined name "Eagle Eye" doesn't step on any previously accepted name. Whether it's the same basic material (fiberous mineral in quartz) is another question. Like mentioned, never came across that one.

MRH

Sorry, Crocidolite not crocoite (half asleep).

Hawk's eye is also used for Blue (unaltered) color. Additionally, Found a note that "Cat's Eye" is used as a "catch-all" for whiteish-greyish etc., undeterminable colored Chatoyant Quartz, most notably from Sri lanka and Brazil, and yes, it is a quartz as well.

MRH

I have a piece of tiger iron and I had looked it up online when I got it. According to my hasty notes, it is a mixture of tiger eye, hematite, and red jasper. Hopefully no one will tell me that the site I got it from was wrong.

I cut and polish tiger eye and tiger iron for a living, i have seen and worked with most sources including one that is almost black. But never seen or heard of natural white, could be bleached of course.

Take care.

I have seen this before now, though not in any quantity. I was working in SA and Namibia as a geologist during the 1970's and 80's, and used to do a lot of work behind the scenes with Sid Pieters. He used to send tons (literally) of tigereye to Europe. Mostly golden, sometimes blue (water damage) and very rarely, the very pale golden colour sometimes said to be silver.

Not seen the eBay post referred to, but it could be genuine.

Rick

Just some information on this -Blue/Bluish- Tiger Eye... it is most likely the RARE form of Tiger Eye Called Hawk's Eye from Cape Providence, South Africa:

The Tiger Eye formation process results in one of two gemstones-which are colored either blue or brown/gold. The RARE Blue or Mostly Blue Tiger Eye stone is called (most often) Hawk's Eye and the golden brown stone is called Tiger Eye (also written/accepted as Tiger's Eye, or Tiger-Eye).

The Tiger Eye formation process (which involves the dissolution of iron & sodium) produces traces of hydrated oxide of iron which is deposited between the crocidolite and quartz (during the re-formation phase), creating the golden-brown color that is most common to Tiger Eye. The amount of this hydrated iron oxide mineral that is deposited determines how Golden brown, red, green or blue, Tiger Eye and Hawk's Eye will be. The RARE, Blue Hawk's Eye will have only the very slightest amounts.

The seller of that so-called "Gray Tiger Eye" said the originator of the material also called it "Frogs Eye" and that due to its chatoyancy it is considered a form of Tiger Eye. I am not convinced this is the case, but that is IMHO.

hi im Raegan and im doing a project on tigers eye and schist. ineed to know how tigers eye is obtained and the formation of it.

Thanx heaps i hope you can help

ps. i need the info by friday the 10th of november.

From Raegan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2006 01:37PM by David Von Bargen.

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Hi Raegan, the reference supplied by David is probably quite true, however I cut and sell tiger eye for a living (i live in Western Australia) and i can say from experience that some other element must be introduced at some stage of formation, otherwise all tiger eye would be the same color and I know that it is not. I have found all shades of pink, red, olive green, bronze, orange,Grey,and the most beautiful of all a deep peacock blue that also has the most unbelievable chatoyancy.

Also most West Australian Tiger eye contains hematite either in thin bands or as part of the fibrous structure this can produce some very interesting cabochons, one type is a deep plum color when viewed head on but takes on a polished steel appearance when viewed from an angle. Hope this helps and does not confuse you even more.

Take care

Not that this fallows exactly what you guys were talking about but I did an experiment yesterday on natural blue tiger eye (or hawks eye). Hawks eye forms in the same vain as gold tiger eye but it does not oxidize before the solidification from silica crystals takes place.
I had seen the use of heat treatment to change gold tiger eye into red tiger eye and I wondered what would happen if I did the same thing to blue tiger eye.
I placed the stone in a pot willed with sand and placed it in the oven on the cleaning cycle that gets up to 600 degrees F. After 4 hours the stone was allowed to cool over night. In the morning I removed the stone from the sand and found the color had been bleached out of the stone leaving only gray color bands where it was originally blue.

I was hoping for purple.. But silver gray works too.

-David Lloyd
E-mail: B_S_O_D_2000@yahoo.com
AIM: bigjack999c

Hi!

I have some binghamite (aka silkstone) from the Cuyuna Iron range in Minnesota that could easily be mistaken for "silver tiger eye". Beautiful when cut and polished!

J T

Chassidy, to answer your question about ajoite. Yes it is possible to get a "steal" on rocks now and then. I bought a two inch tall unpolished crystal with quite a bit of ajoite showing at a shop about three years ago for $60 not quite $30 but you get the idea. The funny part was that they had other crystals at the same shop in a different showcase starting at $300 that were not as nice. Old price tags? Just show it pays to keep your eyes open, and educate yourself as much as possible.

Adam K

I was sold a pound of "Ajoite in quartz" for a very low price. I was skeptical.....as well I should be....turns out it was just veins of chrysocolla in quartz. Of course, i no longer do business with this particular vendor as he has a reputation for lying, "changing" names to sell more of the same old stuff, gluing and just misrepresenting in general. I hate that!

Hello Pete,

I have a rough piece of tigereye that is about 8 inches long, 6 inches wide and 2 inches thick. I want to polish the entire piece. Could you offer some advice as to how I would do that? Can I just start sanding through various grits and polish with some wax like I would with a piece of alibaster or is there a certain way I should go about polishing tigereye?

Any information would be helpful.

Thank you,

Johnny Murphy

Tigereye is pretty hard. You will probably have to use a grinding wheel(wet) to shape it and then the various sanding grits to take it down to a prepolish perhaps with 600 grit and the something like tin or cerium oxide for the final polish.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.