I'm not sure where the name comes from, but you'll also find it known as Miriam Jasper, yet another mystifying name. Perhaps cobra because if you really stretch your imagination the little yellow squiggles look like little cobras. Regardless of what you decide to call it, it's an interesting stone that combines red and yellow jaspers into a unique and distinctive pattern.

I purchased a couple good cutting chunks of cobra jasper from 'the Aussies' in Quartzite. They had probably a hundred steel barrels filling with all kinds of material. The cobra stone caught my eye and the price was right.