Tumbled Stone: Tiger Eye and Haematite

Tiger Eye
Tiger eye is a chatoyant quartz (SiO2) with a hardness of 7 on the Mohs Scale. Large pieces are rare as it usually forms in thin veins. The golden variety is more common than the red ‘bulls eye’ or the blue ‘hawks eye’ varieties.

Haematite

Haematite is an important iron ore. Containing up to 70% iron it is the worlds major source of raw iron for steel manufacture and will leave a red streak if scratch on the back of a ceramic tile.