Post subject: Re: Is Tiger's Eye toxic if the bead is chipped off?
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:18 pm
Gold Member
Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 9:42 pm Posts: 1033
1) it is certainly not dangerous 2) generally tiger eye is not expensive 3) Show us a picture 4) is the rest of it silver? 5) Is it so bad you don't want to wear it?
Post subject: Re: Is Tiger's Eye toxic if the bead is chipped off?
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:29 pm
Gold Member
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 2:18 am Posts: 1542
From the picture that doesn't look like Tiger Eye to me. It could be dyed and just a bad picture though.
Also, it is my understanding that the crocidolite asbestos is completely absorbed by the quartz during conversion to Tiger Eye, and so represents no threat. Please confirm that as I am working from memory.
Post subject: Re: Is Tiger's Eye toxic if the bead is chipped off?
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:37 pm
Site Admin
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Oh, for gawd's sake.
Kirr45, do you have any idea of the toxins you are subjected to every time you take a breath?
Time Magazine wrote:
In one of the most extensive reports of its kind, environmental health experts have estimated that nine million premature deaths worldwide—16% of all deaths—were linked to pollution in 2015, with the majority of deaths coming from air pollution.
You should be far more concerned about breathing than the potential hazards* of wearing a cracked tigereye bead.
* which are non-existent
And, the bead does not look like tigereye to me either.
Also, it is my understanding that the crocidolite asbestos is completely absorbed by the quartz during conversion to Tiger Eye, and so represents no threat. Please confirm that as I am working from memory.
They used to think that it was completely replaced by quartz, but that turned out to not be the case. Later examination showed it to be an intergrowth of fibrous quartz and crocidolite (with the chatoyance only controlled by the crocidolite). So it's definitely locked up tight in the quartz--does that mean it can't come out as asbestiform fibers when ground up? I don't know, I don't know if anyone knows. And of course unaltered crocidolite is blue, so the material that's been oxidized to yellow or red, is that no longer crocidolite? Is it fully altered to iron oxides? I don't know. Nobody knows, I think. But that is the reason for my constant hedging about whether there is any risk to cutting it.
Post subject: Re: Is Tiger's Eye toxic if the bead is chipped off?
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 3:32 pm
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:29 pm Posts: 10
Yeah sorry my camera broke on my phone so everything comes out a little faded. I googled images and it looks almost exactly like the one in the link below. Not sure if the inside is supposed to be dull or should the inside also look like the outside. Some of the beads do have metallic slivers as well.
Post subject: Re: Is Tiger's Eye toxic if the bead is chipped off?
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 2:43 am
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:29 pm Posts: 10
Lol yes I understand now. But hey, better safe than sorry. However some of the comments have now started me to wonder about if a stone is real or not. Guess I'll start trying to look into finding out how I can check.
Post subject: Re: Is Tiger's Eye toxic if the bead is chipped off?
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:28 am
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:55 am Posts: 543
Barbra, (as usual) has it in one, the hazards of wearing a tiger eye bracelet are non-existent. at the same time, the material is so cheap that it is hardly likely that even the worst cheapskate would bother counterfeiting it. So, if you like it, wear it, if you don't, give it away to someone who does.
Alas, I have seen counterfeit togereye a few times. Fiber optic glass imitating very fine tigereye cats eyes. Years back someone posted cheap earrings with similar glass beads imitating tigereye.
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