Beautiful tiger's eye sphere

A hand-polished Tiger's Eye sphere from South Africa in a golden-brown color with vibrant natural grain.

Tiger's Eye (SiO₂, pseudomorph after crocidolite) forms when quartz replaces the fine, parallel crocidolite fibers, preserving their structure. This results in the characteristic chatoyancy.

When the sphere is rotated, a bright streak of light moves across its surface, an optical phenomenon due to the parallel fiber geometry. From every angle, the sphere appears slightly different.

South Africa is the classic provenance for Tiger's Eye, known for its particularly intense golden-brown saturation and well-defined fibers.