One of the beautiful gemstones is the tiger’s eye stone. It has eye-catching streaks of golden yellow colour all over which is a type of chatoyancy that gives golden brown and yellowish hues.
This stone is cut and shaped in the cabochon style that brings the chatoyancy level even more. It is composed of mineral that is said to be transformed completely from quartz. It also appears similar to hawkeye and Pietersite stones because of the similar chatoyancy.
Tiger’s Eye Stone Place Of Origin
It is essential to understand the origin of this gemstone in order to identify it correctly. Proper knowledge of any gemstone is the first step to buy the original one. This particular gemstone is very common in the regions of Africa and Thailand mostly. There are few other places where the tiger’s eye is found such as Spain, China, India and Australia. The tiger’s eye stone price varies depending upon the place of origin and its quality.
Identify Tiger’s Eye
There are certain ways to examine the genuineness of the tiger’s eye stone. The two most important things are the colour and the durability of the stone. The mineral composition contributes to the colour factor that either makes the stone golden yellow or brown. This stone is mostly composed of silicon dioxide.
And the range of durability is between 6.5 and 7.0. The durability helps to understand if the stone is an original one. Also, one must buy a tiger’s eye only from a certified seller or a reputed dealer.
Few ways to identify this stone are as follows:
• Make sure you notice the golden stripes. It is mostly towards yellow and browns. The colours will be present throughout the stone in the form of linear bands. You may also find some tiger’s eye stone with stripes of dark brown and reddish-brown. Some stones may have bluish stripes. The bluish variety of this stone is known as the hawk’s eye.
• The original tiger’s eye stone will scratch glass. Since it is a form of quartz it has a hardness level of 7 on the Mohs scale. This means it has the capacity to scratch glass which is comparatively softer than the tiger’s eye. If you find that the stone is scratching glass, it is the real tiger’s eye and is of higher quality.
• Another great way to tell the difference between the real from the fake is the optical effect. If you hold the stone under any source of light, it will change colour just like a cat’s eye. This happens because of chatoyancy. The effect will be more visible in highly polished stone. The cat’s eye effect can be found when you move the stone up and down. That way you will be able to see the bands of colours and the effect it creates. The chatoyancy varies as per the shape and the size of the stone.
When buying a tiger’s eye stone, make sure you know the details of how it looks. Also, ask for the certified stone from the seller.
