How to sell: Tiger's eye quartz
Customers will love the range of warm earth tones that include brown, brown-yellow and red-brown.
The main distinguishing characteristic is its ‘eye’, a phenomenon called chatoyancy. Retailers will say it is inexpensive and a popular material for beads, tablets, cameos and intaglios.
Its toughness makes tiger’s eye an everyday gem and it’s a frequent choice for men’s jewellery.
It’s unique because it gets its phenomenon from its wavy, fibrous structure, not inclusions. This makes it possible for tiger’s eye to show phenomena even on flat faces.
Special considerations Sudden temperature change can cause fracturing. Ultrasonic cleaning is usually safe, steam cleaning can be risky, but warm, soapy water is the best choice. Tiger’s eye can be bleached to lighten the colour, heat treated to produce a red-brown colour, and dyed to produce various other colours. Glass and plastic imitations of tiger’s eye are available.
- Learn more about gemstones and how to sell them by experiencing GIA eLearning today - www.gia.edu/elearning
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Readers' comments (1)
Alessandra ponticelli | 25 January 2012 5:49 pm
the hindu believe that tiger's eye brings wealth when worn as a jewel.
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