Red Tiger-eye
Other Silicates & Gemstones
Red tiger's eye is a natural red-brown color designation within tiger's eye, not a separate mineral species. This chatoyant quartz-rich rock preserves aligned fibrous structures after amphibole alteration, producing a silky moving band across mahogany, copper, or rust-colored material.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Tiger's eye
- Scientific or material identity
- Quartz
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Aliases or trade names
- Red tiger's eye
- Composition or formula
- SiO₂
- Crystal system or structure
- Trigonal
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Can form in more than one geological environment, or combines several materials.
- Mohs hardness
- 6.5 to 7
- Specific gravity
- 2.65
Origins
Australia · India · Namibia · South Africa · USA
Appearance & optical properties
reddish mahogany tiger eye with a silky light band.
History & discovery
Naturalist François Levaillant encountered tiger's eye near southern Africa's Orange River in 1784, and Martin Heinrich Klaproth described it in 1811. Red tiger's eye belongs to the same material, with its name simply distinguishing naturally reddish-brown examples.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- The moving light band is displayed in cabochons, beads, spheres, carvings, inlay, and other polished ornaments, usually with the fibers oriented across the curved surface.
- Handling and cleaning
- Wash intact pieces with warm soapy water and a soft cloth. Avoid hard impacts, steam, ultrasonic cleaning, and cutting or grinding that could release dust from the stone's fine fibrous mineral remnants.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Red Tiger-eye jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Ember Flame Brooch
Brooch
A heat-reddened tiger's-eye cabochon framed in curling gold flames, its silky copper sheen flickering in low light.
Sunset Sheen Cuff
Bracelet
A wide hammered-gold cuff built around one large red tiger's-eye whose silky sheen glows like a setting sun.
Ember Drop Earrings
Earrings
A pair of dangling earrings, each a teardrop of red tiger's-eye with a bright silky streak down its middle.
Red Silk Signet
Ring
An imagined gold signet ring set with red tiger's eye, a band of silky light sliding across its mahogany stone.
Crimson Tiger Collar
Necklace
An imagined gold collar of red tiger's eye, each mahogany stone crossed by a band of silky light.