Fake Crystals

[EarthBow]

I suspect that most of you already know that the market is flooded with fakes, and has been for years. I thought I would list some of the more common fakes you will see for those just getting into the wonderful world of crystals and minerals.

Smoky Quartz - Arkansas quartz is often irradiated and passed off as smoky quartz. The fake stuff is jet black, and you can't see through it. This fake material is sometimes left in the sun, where it becomes a brownish color and gains some transparency. Real smoky quartz has variations in the smoke which is called "zoning", but the irradiated quartz is usually more uniform. Milky quartz won't turn dark when exposed to radiation, so if you see black quartz with a white base, its probably fake.

Citrine - Fake citrine flooded the market when they discovered large deposits of amethyst in Brazil. Amethyst can be heat treated and passed off as citrine. They just put it in an oven and cook it, which turns the amethyst a dark, orange-yellow color. Fake citrine is much darker than natural citrine.

Quartz Points - Most of these are coming from China, and they are made out of slag glass. These are sometimes heated then dipped in water to produce internal fractures which make them look more real. If you see a huge quartz point for a small price, it's probably glass. Natural quartz has irregularities in its shape. If all the sides are exactly the same, and the crystal has no irregularities, its probably glass. These come in colors too, usually red and yellow.

Quartz Point "Flowers" - These have points coming out in all directions, more or less in a regular pattern. These are plastic balls with quartz points glued to them.

Green Quartz - There is natural green quartz, which is green because of chlorite inclusions, but a lot of what you might see is faked. They use hot water and pressure to cause damaged quartz clusters to reform new "caps". They introduce chromium during the process so the reformed quartz look green. The real stuff is usually deep green all the way through, the fakes are lighter green, and only on the surface in an irregular pattern. The fakes are easy to spot if you have ever seen the real thing.

Hematite - OK, its not a crystal, but virtually all of the hematite on the market is man made. Real hematite is an ore of iron, and most of it was used up years ago. The fake stuff can be hard to spot, especially in finished jewelry. Fake hematite beads can usually be detected by examining the hole. Real hematite fractures slightly when the drill breaks through, so the breakout edge will usually have tiny chips missing near the hole. Fake hematite beads are molded, the holes will be slightly rounded on both the entrance and exit sides. Close examination will sometimes reveal seam lines in man made hematite.

Turquoise - Virtually all American turquoise mines are played out. Pockets of turquoise are sometimes found in copper mines, but it's becoming very rare. The main exception is the Sleeping Beauty mine in Arizona, which is still producing beautiful, nearly matrix-free, robin's egg blue stone. This turquoise is gem quality, meaning it is not enhanced or stabilized in any way. (I have also heard that the Kingman mine is back in limited production) Most of the turquoise you find on the market is from china. Since most natural turquoise is chalky, its usually stabilized by injecting it with resins to hold it together. Dyes are often added at the same time, and this is supposed to be disclosed as "enhanced". I have seen stuff from china that isn't even turquoise. Its just some porus rock that has been dyed. Beware!

There are other fakes out there too, but these are probably the most common ones you might see. Get a good book with good pictures until you get a feel for what's out there.

Hope it helps,

EarthBow

[Mozelle]

Earthbow this was really informative. It makes me question one set of stones I have because of the deep dark color (My Citrine). But I do not get that over surge of energy I get from Amethyst. Instead it brings out the warrior in me. I can not hold them and be angry, not even if I try. So I get the attributes of the stone even in my sleep. But they are very dark in color. I didn't know about the Hematite as well. I will be paying more attention to the next time I buy Hematite. I've also enjoyed your blog posts on crystals. Plus the price of some crystals it's great to know an about the fakes. Plus it was very timely for me. Just a few days I was having a conversation with a local man. That was telling me that the serious collector want the crystal in it's natural state. Because anything cut you can not always be sure what your getting.

[EarthBow]

I saw the pictures of the clusters in the album on your profile and strongly suspect that they are heat treated amethyst, not citrine. It can be hard to tell for sure from pictures though, because lighting conditions and differences in cameras can sometimes play tricks on the eye.

Personally, I have always found amethyst to be soothing and calming. I find it can ward off negativity and amplify creativity and all positive vibrations. Citrine feels more uplifting and motivating to me, but also has calming qualities.

Citrine and amethyst are both forms of quartz that contain very small quantities of other minerals. These additions alter the energetic qualities, but the differences aren't that great.

Any process which alters a gem's color will also affect its structure and vibration. I don't have any heat treated amethyst here, so I can't tell you much about it's energies. Heat treated or not, it's still quartz, and should still be able to absorb negativity, including anger.

Natural citrine is fairly rare and expensive, while amethyst is now fairly cheap and easy to find. My post was intended to warn people not to pay natural citrine prices for heat treated amethyst. I didn't mean to imply that the heat treated amethyst is useless. If your clusters are providing you with the benefits you seek, there is no reason to stop using them.

Thanks for reading, be well,

EarthBow

[Mozelle]

EarthBow thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. And going to examine my citrine for me. Amethyst effects me different then other people I've learned.
It was a time when I would avoid it worse then people that avoid coming in contact with snakes. I'm glad I didn't pay a lot for them.

[Mohandas]

Thanks for your post, Earthbow, I'm glad you brought up this very important subject. In the gem and mineral business we are ever vigilant and constantly on guard, not only for outright fakes but also for enhanced material being passed off as untreated, especially in the case of cut gemstones. The Gemological Institute of America has published several important articles www.gia.edu/newsroom/608/122/news_release_details.cfm concerning a relatively new technique and have conducted experiments to duplicate it, thus exposing the perpetrators.

When this came out, it caused a huge ripple of controversy which has yet to be completely resolved. My wife and I specialize in untreated material and have seen countless examples of the candy colored, disco ball style gems which seem like such a great deal. I would estimate that 99% of sapphires on the world market have been at least heat treated, if not beryllium lattice diffused!

It begins to become apparent that real, untreated sapphires of good clarity and strong color saturation are many, many times more rare than the best diamond. There is a reason why certain well known stones of antiquity, along with specific locations where they were found, became so famous. Now, the perfect cornflower blue sapphire of impossible size and clarity can easily be found, as can the perfect ruby, emerald etc etc... Suspicious, no?

As for other mineral fakes, the list that Earthbow presented is, unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg.

With Love
Mohandas

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[Mozelle]

I'm very curios to how the China is importing so many fakes from coins to Quartz Skull. Where they have taken many smaller crystals and somehow formed a massive piece that can be carved into a skull. Dyed clusters that look like coolaide colors. No luster and in the crevasses a you can see what ever dye the used looks powdery in the crevasses.

Coins to the point that collectors are having to look in reference books and we are now measuring the coins as well to make sure they are of proper weight.

I'm glad Rubies were brought up that had been cut. I've also seen rubies that just did not appeal to me. They didn't look right it's like all of a sudden rubies are everywhere and the price didn't fit either. I've never owned a ruby until recently. I wanted a ruby and after much searching & saving I ended up just buying and estate ruby instead. It's less then 50 years old so it would not be classified as vintage. I've included photo. It is not perfect by any means. There are inclusions and what looks to me to be darker particles that can be seen with a 16x and higher. Something I was glad to see. It's not an everyday piece, bank vault to be handed down. I have also went and changed the titles of my Citrines so people can see the darkness of the fakes.

[Haruth]

The shop I work in cheat the cheaters... they only ever buy direct from the mine...

Online shopping is particularly fraught. I have a chunk of genuine morion with a druzy pyrite on the back / front (depending on how I'm feeling...), and saw what was supposed to be a couple of morion points for sale, which I felt would be a nice addition. The pictures did look a little too good to be true, but I put it down to the lighting as the price was in the right ballpark for it to be the genuine article.

WRONG! When they arrived, it was blatantly obvious that I had been taken for a sap. True morion just isn't nearly so 'perfect'. The seller, when I pointed out that he was an (erm) charlatan (?) simply asked me to prove it... Although this would indeed have been rather easy - who in their right mind is going to burden themselves with all that... If it had been a Van Gogh, perhaps, but not for a little bitty quartz...

And as you point out Mozelle, some, if not most, of the stuff coming out of China just seems far too good to be true - because it is... and not just in the gem market: I've seen water clear quartz points nearly 24" long offered for next to nothing...

Buyer beware, indeed. Particularly online, but also in your local crystal store - as many owners are really only in the business for the perceived profit, and have little or no knowledge of what they actually have on their shelves. Though this can work in your favour at times too...

[Mozelle]

Does anyone know what other stone radiation is used on besides Blue Topaz? I like blue Topaz. But I will not wear it, because I'm afraid. I figured this was a good time to ask since we are talking about heated stones.

[Briony Haldane]

I personally don't consider heat treated amethyst to be a "fake" stone. It's real, and it is similar to the natural process during which "natural" citrine is formed. Natural citrine looks very little like heat treated citrine, sometimes resembling smoky quartz in its greyish brown aspect and sometimes quite pale, like an almond oil colour. The energetic properties of these stones are comparable although, if you have obtained natural citrine, you are often getting a better quality stone, so you may feel a corresponding difference in energy.

Turquoise is often counterfeited by dying howlite blue. It is very common in polished stones for jewellery. However, you can almost always tell by the price. There are no bargains for real turquoise.

Mozelle are you referring to the irradiated stones called "aura" stones like aqua aura, angel aura, tanzan aura , mystical topaz etc?