Tiger's eye | |
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General | |
Category | Mineral |
Formula (repeating unit) | Silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) |
Identification | |
Colour | golden to red-brown |
Mohs scale hardness | 6.5-7 |
Luster | Silky |
Specific gravity | 2.64–2.71 |
Tiger's eye (also called tiger eye) is a chatoyant gemstone that is usually a metamorphic rock with a golden to red-brown colour and a silky lustre. As members of the quartz group, tiger's eye and the related blue-coloured mineral hawk's eye gain their silky, lustrous appearance from the parallel intergrowth of quartz crystals and altered amphibole fibres that have mostly turned into limonite.[1][2]