Tiger's eye in nice rough small chunks.

Tiger's Eye is a quartz variety. The color of the stone is tan to brown, streaky and opaque. Sites include Africa, India, Mexico, California. and Australia. Tiger's eye is formed by the silicification of black-blue asbestos fibers called crocidolite. This creates solid inclusions of hair-like crystals in the quartz. The oxidation of the original crocidolite fibers creates the gold shiny limonite fibers of the stone. Tiger's eye is so named because the stone has a light reflection that is reminiscent of a tiger's eye. This slit-shaped light effect is called chatoyeren or 'cat's eye effect'. When the stone is cabochon (sphere) cut, the beautiful cat's eye effect is best visible. The color of the stone gives it its name: the red kind is called Cat's Eye, the Blue Falcon's Eye and the Yellow Tiger Eye (golden yellow, golden brown).