Tiger's Eye Identification Guide
A field guide to identifying tiger's eye by its golden chatoyant sheen, quartz hardness, and how to separate it from dyed and glass imitations.
Read the full Tiger's Eye encyclopedia entry →
What Tiger's Eye Looks Like
Tiger's eye is a chatoyant variety of quartz formed when fibrous crocidolite (blue asbestos) is replaced by silica while preserving the fibrous structure.
- Color: golden yellow to rich brown, often with honey, amber, and reddish zones
- Luster: silky, with a moving band of light (chatoyancy)
- Transparency: translucent to opaque
- Form: massive, with fine parallel fibers; cut as cabochons to display the eye
Step-by-Step Field ID Checklist
- Tilt the stone under a single light source — a sharp band of light that glides across the surface is the hallmark.
- Look for fine parallel fibers running in one direction.
- Confirm hardness against glass (it should scratch glass).
- Check that color zones grade naturally rather than sitting in a thin painted shell.
- Note the warm gold-to-brown palette typical of natural material.
Key Diagnostic Tests
- Hardness: ~7 (scratches glass and steel) — rules out softer dyed stones.
- Streak: white (it is quartz).
- Fracture: conchoidal to splintery; no cleavage.
- Density: ~2.64–2.71, ordinary for quartz; not noticeably heavy.
- Chatoyancy test: under a bright point source the eye should be crisp and continuous, not patchy.
Common Look-Alikes
- Glass / fiber-optic 'cat's eye' glass: the eye is too perfect and sharp, often shows a hollow center reflection; glass is softer (~5.5) and may show bubbles or mold seams.
- Hawk's eye: the blue-gray, earlier-stage version before oxidation; same stone, different color.
- Pietersite: brecciated, swirling chatoyancy in multiple directions rather than one straight band.
- Dyed quartzite or howlite: color sits in cracks; scratch test and acetone swab can reveal dye.
- Bronzite / hypersthene: metallic submetallic schiller but no fibrous quartz chatoyancy and lower hardness.
Real tiger's eye gives quartz hardness, a white streak, and a single straight gliding light band.
Where It Is Found
The dominant source is the Northern Cape of South Africa (Griqualand West), with significant material from Western Australia. Other deposits occur in India, Namibia, Brazil, and the USA.
Frequently asked questions
How can you tell if tiger's eye is real?
Real tiger's eye is quartz, so it scratches glass (hardness 7), has a white streak, and shows a single crisp band of light gliding across the fibers when tilted under light.
What does tiger's eye look like?
It is golden to brown and translucent with a silky chatoyant sheen — a moving line of light caused by fine parallel silica fibers — usually cut into smooth cabochons.
Tiger's eye vs glass cat's eye: how do I tell them apart?
Glass imitations have an unnaturally perfect, often hollow-looking eye, may contain bubbles or a mold seam, and are softer than quartz, so they will not scratch glass.
Is tiger's eye dyed?
Natural gold-brown tiger's eye is rarely dyed, but red and bright blue or green versions are usually heat-treated or dyed; dye concentrates in cracks and can lift with acetone.
Tiger's Eye identified by the community
Recent Tiger's Eye specimens identified with Rock Identifier.
