Pietersite
Lapidary material SiO2
Also called Tempest stone
Take care.
- Can shed asbestos fibres: Keep it in a closed box, and never break, saw, sand, or scrape it.
About it
Brecciated tiger's eye and hawk's eye in swirling blue and gold, with stormy chatoyancy. Named for Sid Pieters, who found it in Namibia in 1962; China has similar material. Cut and grind it wet.
- Type
- Lapidary material
- Group
- Quartz with crocidolite (brecciated)
- Formula
- SiO2
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 6.5–7
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- silky, vitreous (glassy)
- Colours
- blue-grey, gold, brown, swirled
- Transparency
- opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; uneven fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.