Tiger Iron Polished Sphere Ball - 3.2 inch
This Tiger Iron Polished Sphere Ball is crafted from Tiger Iron, an attractive and ancient composite rock that is highly prized for its vibrant, layered structure. Be sure to check out the video and the pictures to get a true feel for what this sphere looks like.
Composition and Formation
Tiger Iron is a rock, not a single mineral, composed of alternating bands of three primary materials:
- Golden Tiger's Eye: A form of quartz that exhibits a unique optical effect called chatoyancy (or "cat's eye" effect) when polished, creating a shimmering, silky reflection.
- Red Jasper: A dense, opaque, microcrystalline variety of quartz that provides the rich, earthy red coloration due to iron oxide impurities.
- Black Hematite: An iron oxide mineral that contributes metallic, silver-gray to black bands, making the rock very dense and giving it its "iron" name.
This material is a variety of Banded Iron Formation (BIF), one of the oldest rock types on Earth, dating back over 2.5 billion years to the Precambrian era. The distinctive layers were formed in ancient oceans as dissolved iron reacted with oxygen produced by early microorganisms (cyanobacteria), causing iron oxides and silica to precipitate and settle in alternating bands. Later, immense heat and pressure transformed these sedimentary layers into the hard, beautifully patterned metamorphic rock we see today.
Sphere Details:
- Material: Tiger Iron (Tigers Eye, Red Jasper, Black Hematite)
- Approximate Size: 82mm / 3.2in
- Approximate Weight: 1.87kg
- Notes: Please note that each sphere is completely unique. You will receive the Sphere as pictured