HAWK'S EYE QUARTZ (TWO SPECIMENS - NATURAL AND POLISHED) - South Africa
« backHAWK’S EYE (FALCON'S EYE) QUARTZ
Two specimens (raw and polished)
Northern Cape Province, South Africa
Two beautiful examples of the variety of Tiger's Eye known as Hawk's Eye or Falcon's Eye. One is natural as found and the other is cut and polished.
These varieties of quartz have a remarkable optical quality called ‘chatoyancy’, where light is reflected in a particular way due to the fibrous structure of the mineral. The effect is similar to the sheen off a spool of silk with the streak of reflected light always perpendicular to the direction of the fibres.
These rocks started life as the fibrous mineral crocidolite but all the microscopic fibres of crocidolite have been completely encapsulated by quartz. The fibrous structure has, however, been retained, producing the optical effect.
Northern Cape Province, South Africa
Two beautiful examples of the variety of Tiger's Eye known as Hawk's Eye or Falcon's Eye. One is natural as found and the other is cut and polished.
These varieties of quartz have a remarkable optical quality called ‘chatoyancy’, where light is reflected in a particular way due to the fibrous structure of the mineral. The effect is similar to the sheen off a spool of silk with the streak of reflected light always perpendicular to the direction of the fibres.
These rocks started life as the fibrous mineral crocidolite but all the microscopic fibres of crocidolite have been completely encapsulated by quartz. The fibrous structure has, however, been retained, producing the optical effect.
Click on a picture for a larger image
Size: approx. 9 x 5 x 2 centimetres (raw specimen)
Weight: 160 grams (raw specimen)
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