Tiger’s Eye Gemstone

Tiger eye – offers courage, energy, and luck.

Tiger eye, also spelled tiger’s-eye and tigereye.
Tiger eye is also called crocidolite cat’s-eye or African cat’s-eye. Color: Tiger eye has a rich yellow and golden brown stripes, with a fine golden lustre when polished.

Tiger eye is quartz that contains oriented fibres of crocidolite that have been replaced by silica.
Tiger eye is displaying chatoyancy (a vertical luminescent band like that of a cat’s eye) . Tiger eye typically has lustrous alternating yellow or brown bands.

The name’s origin: Tiger eye with its bands resembles an eye of tiger, so it is received its name due to this similarity.

Have you ever seen a real Tiger’s eye?   Here is a photo of one from National Geographic, compare it with the man’s ring beside it.

Real Tiger eye

Wild Tiger Eye

Man's Tiger Eye ring

Tiger's Eye Ring

Tiger’s eye is brown quartz silicon dioxide, having yellow and brown parallel fibers and glitters with a small ray of light on the surface.  Iron oxide gives the stone it’s yellow gold color.  The best Tiger’s eye gemstones come from South Africa,  but it is also found in several other countries as well.

Tiger’s eye is the anniversary stone for the 9th year of marriage and is the astrological sign for Capricorn.

It is a very popular gemstone and is said to instill confidence in people, helping them obtain their goals. It is used for insight,  focus and clear thinking. It is considered to be very lucky.
Wearing a Tiger’s eye can be beneficial to health and spiritual well being.  In ancient war time Roman soldiers wore it , engraved with symbols, to protect them during battle.

Sapphires & Rubies

Sapphires: Stone of Magic – Stone of Mystery

Ruby:  Deep Red and Rare – more expensive than diamonds!


Sapphires and Rubies are the mineral corundum.  It comes in a variety of colors and is the hardest mineral next to diamonds.
Only the deep red corundum is called Ruby. All other colors are sapphires. They are: blue, pink, green, violet, yellow and colorless.  There are even some orange ones.

The most sought after  is the bright, cornflower blue, that comes from Sri Lanka.

Saphires from Montana

Saphires from Montana

Ancient Europeans considered the blue sapphire protection against evil and general misfortunes.  They were carried into battle as victory stones.

The Ruby had the same reputation.

Raw Rubies

Raw Rubies

However in India, sapphires were considered to either bring great wealth and success or great misfortunes.  This tended to off-set their popularity in that country.

The finest Rubies come from Burma. Lesser stones come from Thailand, Cambodia, Africa as well as Brazil and China.

Sapphires come from Australia, Cambodia, and even from the US state of Montana.  Some have been found in Northern Ontario, Canada.   But only in Sri Lanka and Cambodia will you find the cornflower blue.

IN 1947, the first synthetic sapphires were created. They are equal to the natural stones in the chemical make up. They are flawless. That is one of the only ways they can be detected.

Natural stones always have some defect. The synthetics are  less expensive and easily  come by.

Natural stones are prized for their beauty and the fact that they have never been touched by human influence. Being rare they are highly expensive, especially the ruby.

It is said that a person born in Taurus should wear SAPPHIRE BLUE to be protected from mental disorders and a Capricorn who wears RUBY will never know trouble. (Wish I had known that fact sooner, I am a Capricorn and could have really used that protection.)

I wonder if anyone has done a study on these superstitions…….

Resources:

Wikipedia

The Encyclopedia of Minerals and Gemstones,

Jewelry & Gems, The Buying Guide,  by Antoinette Matlins,

As well as:  http://www.gehnabazaar.com.

If you are looking for loose stones or unique jewelry pieces, go to :

http://tinyurl.com/rc5lfc

For designer jewels visit:

http://tinyurl.com/lnso7r