PIETERSITE

Pietersite, also called "eagle's eye," was named in honour of Sid Pieters who discovered it in 1962 in Namibia, Africa. Pietersite is a trade name for a dark blue-grey breccia aggregate made up mainly of hawk's eye and tiger eye.

It is a variety of chalcedony (itself a variety of quartz) with embedded fibres of amphibole minerals in varying degrees of alteration. The fibres cause a blue chatoyancy like that seen in tiger eye

Pietersite started as the mineral crocidolite... one of several minerals such as Tiger-eye, which belong to the riebeckite family of amphibole silicates.

Over time, quartz gradually replaced the crocidolite fibres. As quartz replaced the crocidolite, it took on the shape of the fibrous mineral, which is what causes the optical effect of shifting light in gemstones of this family.

Unlike Tiger eye, the surface of a Pietersite looks rather chaotic, with streaks and colours in every direction. Its swirling colours create the appearance of a "Violent storm viewed from space".

Namibia is the only place where Pietersite can currently be found. In the 1990s, material similar to Pietersite was discovered in Hunan Province of China, but the mine was closed a few years after its Pietersite had become unavailable.

Limited production from Namibia has made Pietersite quite difficult to find, however we have one of the largest ranges of Pietersite gems in Australia.