Spotting Crystal Fakes Handy Reference Guide

Transcription

Spotting Crystal Fakes
Handy Reference Guide
by Hibiscus Moon
Hibiscus Moon Crystal Academy ™, Copyright 2014
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Spotting Crystal Fakes
Introduction
Hey, Crystal Peeps!
This eBook you have in front of you is a compilation of a popular series of blog
posts I started awhile back on how to spot crystal fakes. I get a TON of questions
on this topic, and so I thought it’d be a good idea to compile them all into a handy
reference eBook so it's all in 1 place for you to look to when necessary. There
are also many more fakes & many more to come; I'm sure...so perhaps this is
something I'll need to add to in the future.
Before we go any further, though, I’d like to offer a little caveat that I like to repeat
often so peeps don't get the wrong idea. My aim here is NOT to completely
remove the romanticism of stones & crystals. You know I'm all about the sparkly,
glittery & spiritual side of them! Who do you know that sings their praises more
than me with as much passion as I do?
But it may be time for a wee dose of reality when it comes to realizing that they
may not arrive 100% unaltered in our hungry little hands. I have NO problem and
take no issue with anyone who chooses to work with man-made crystals. If you
read my blog, you’ve "read" me say this before, but it bears repeating: If it ain’t
broke, please don’t fix it. If you successfully use any of the man-made or manaltered minerals that I discuss in the following pages, and they're working well for
you, please don’t stop. You've figured out what works for you, being the brilliant
wonder that you are. Please don't let anyone else tell you any different! We have
all different reasons for working with crystals. I'm also not saying that anything
man made won't work. These specimens might work GREAT! Personally, I just
prefer a totally unaltered 100% Mother Earth crystal or stone (or as close to that
as I can get) whenever given the choice.
Please remember that this is my opinion and how I feel. We are all beings of
slightly varying vibrational frequencies, so my reality may be different from your
reality and therefore we may experience things differently so don't take what I
say as final, by any means.
OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way...let's get down to business!
An Awesome Gift from Nature
Crystals are remarkable & glorious gifts from Mother Earth. Aren't they? Some
crystal peeps prefer their crystals to be all-natural, in the raw; as they were found
in Mother Nature.
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Others may be drawn to the beauty of crystals that have been enhanced in some
way but they may be totally unaware that they have been artificially altered.
Maybe the crystals have been molecularly bonded, irradiated, tumbled, cut,
polished or even heat treated in a lab. Now, I'm saying "lab" for ease and flow but
often times the heating we're talking about here isn't done in a lab at all. It's
usually done in a dusty warehouse by the miners themselves; no lab coats or
anything. Just keepin' it real for ya. ;)
Natural, Enhanced, or Totally Fake?
So, is the crystal you purchased natural, enhanced, or an all-out fake?
Sometimes, the only way to know for sure is with exhaustive lab tests; however,
you can still use your mad-crystal-skills and a little geology know-how to make a
strong educated guess. I see lots of misinformed internet videos or posts on
some of these that I've included here and just want to set the record straight so
you can make wise and informed decisions when making your crystal purchases,
my sweets!
I do think it’s very important that you know what you're getting, so you KNOW
geologically exactly what you’re working with. Sometimes sellers aren't looking to
purposefully fool anyone . . . sometimes they themselves have no idea.
Glass vs. Quartz
Glass is an amorphous solid. Oooooo, BIG SEXY SCIENTIFIC WORD!
"Amorphous" just means that due to quick cooling, the molecules didn’t have
time to arrange themselves in a crystalline repeating geometric pattern. Quartz,
on other hand, cooled slowly and does have the geometrically perfect molecular
structure that all crystals do. That’s what makes a crystal a crystal, Sweet Pea!
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Glass will often have tiny air bubbles, quartz won’t. So it you see bubbles, you
have glass. End of story.
Fruit-Named Quartz (strawberry, cherry, lemon, pineapple, blueberry,
c’mon guys!)
Fruity-named crystals are usually a tip off of FAKES! Not always, but I’ve found it
to be true more often than not. These are typically dyed quartz or glass.
Sometimes, natural red-colored fire or harlequin quartz may be dubbed
“strawberry” by the seller, but since those in the geo-community equate the fruity
name with artificial glass, most sellers in the know would stay well away from
calling it that. More on the strawberry/cherry quartz in a bit.
We seem to have a lot of "lemon quartz" on eBay as of late so let me address
that more specifically here. It's usually low-quality irradiated quartz giving us a
greenish-yellow hued crystal. Now beware not only of the radiation but this is a
temporary color that can quickly fade either by sun exposure or just simply over a
short amount of time!
Fire Quartz from Namibia: the REAL-DEAL!
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Turquoise vs. Dyed Magnesite or Reconstituted
Beware of what many may call "turquoise". Magnesite looks very similar to
turquoise . . . when it’s been dyed. So does howlite. Un-dyed howlite and
magnesite may even be sold as “white turquoise!” SHEEESH! A telltale sign of
dyed magnesite is very deep cracks.
Then we also have “reconstituted” turquoise. "Reconstituted" is when small
amounts of turquoise, that would otherwise be wasted, are recycled by grinding it
up into a fine powder. Resins and dyes may be added & then pressed into a
mold, carved or shaped.
Here are my tried and true tips for testing your turquoise:
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UV Light Test: turquoise containing resins will fluoresce; have a blacklight? Check it out!
Scratch Test: due to its Moh’s hardness being a 5-6, it can be scratched
by a steel knife & under magnification the edges will look tattered, if
they’re smooth as butter, it’s not the real deal
Hot Needle Test: the tip of a hot needle will burn real turquoise, but
reconstituted will melt.
I really like Durango Silver’s video on what exactly “White Turquoise” is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdIF6t_-GoM
Here's 1 of my turquoise specimens where you can see the color goes right
through it:
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Amethyst, Citrine, or Rose Quartz with SUPER-saturated color
If your quartz is really vibrant & pretty uniform in color it may be dyed. A tell-tale
sign of dyed quartz is excess dye collecting in the cracks. And that fuchsia, bright
green & deep blue agate . . . you know that’s dyed, right?
Andara Crystals
Andara Crystals aka Monotomic Andara are said to be found only in Northern
California & South Africa. They are also said to be a high vibrational, soulenhancing crystal and connected with a Lemurian temple complex.
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In doing some investigating, I've discovered that they're not a crystal at all, but
man-made discarded glass (perhaps some are now making the glass purposely
for sale as Andara), originally found in a California dump, commonly known as
"slag" glass; the by-product of glass manufacturing.
Sometimes it’s called a "Crystal glass". Up-on-geo-geek-soap-box: Technically,
you can't have a "crystal glass". It’s either crystal or its glass...one or the other.
Pick a lane. The very definition of a crystal means that the atoms are arranged in
a geometrically perfect matrix. Whereas glass atoms are totally random. *off
soap box*
In addition, certain Andara crystals are trademarked. That raises a little red flag
for me.
Check out this site that goes over the metaphysical properties attributed to
Andara: http://www.spiritmythos.org/TM/divine-fire/andara.htm
Orgonite
"Orgone energy" is a type of force energy that is said to permeate the all &
everything and is said to have the ability to balance and organize and even
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protect us from computer EMF and wifi. "Orgone energy" is a theoretical idea
attributed to 1930's psychoanalyst, Wilhelm Reich. (Follow this link to Wikipedia
to learn more about this very interesting man:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich.)
Some of Reich's students & followers experimented with making objects that
seemed to harness this energy; aka orgone generators. Some will even show
you how to make your own "orgonite".
Check out these two links if you’re interested in finding out more about making
your own orgonite:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccS70UQE0fE
http://educate-yourself.org/dc/dcorgonegenfaq26feb02.shtml
Does orgonite work? Perhaps. I just prefer to use crystals to achieve the same
results. ;) For instance, I have a post here about How to Lower Your EMF Risks
with Crystal Healing.
Aura Quartz Crystals
So what's an aura quartz? They take a clear quartz crystal that's been superheated + bonded with various metals to get the variety of GORGEOUS iridescent
colors we see on the market . . . so attractive to many of us.
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The process used is known as "vapor deposition." The quartz is heated to almost
900 °C (1600 °F) in a vacuum chamber & then the metal vapor is added. The
metal atoms fuse molecularly to the crystal's surface (so, no, it's longer silica),
which gives the crystal an iridescent metallic luster. This high energy process
molecularly bonds the gold to the crystal's atoms. That’s a permanent bond
between the crystal lattice + the metal molecules & changes the crystal on a
molecular level.
I feel this does metaphysically weaken the aura quartz crystal's energies in a big
way.
So, you caught that, right?
This process does indeed alter & change the crystals molecularly.
I feel crystals that have been altered in this way have no connection with their
original Dominant Oscillary Rate (vibrational frequency) and so, their ability to
heal has been severely diminished or maybe even destroyed.
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Angel Aura
Angel aura is quartz bonded with either pure platinum or silver.
Flame Aura
Flame or Rainbow aura is clear quartz bonded with the metals titanium and/or
niobium.
There are many colors of aura crystals depending on the metal the quartz has
been bonded with.
Amber/Copal
Amber (not technically a mineral or crystal since it has organic origins) is
supposed to be super-duper expensive, right? So why all this cheap stuffs on the
market?
Well, that cheap stuffs is most likely plastic or copal, pronounced "coh-PAHL".
Copal is often sold as "amber", but it's not. True amber (as shown below) is the
fossilized (40-60 million years old), hardened resin from a now extinct pine tree.
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Why is amber so expensive?
Well that, my sweets, depends on several things: how rare it is, its age, color,
and whether it has any included insects (remember that mosquito in amber from
Jurassic Park that they got the dino DNA from? This is totally impossible, by the
way . . .).
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The value of amber is related to its scarcity, age, inclusions of extinct species &
durability.
Copal, on the other hand, is hardened immature recent resin (only 1000 - 1
million years old). Copal is technically almost the same thing, just not as old and
the names are often used interchangeably.
BUT, "almost" is not the same and the slight variation makes a huge difference!
A reputable seller will make sure to note that copal is not true amber.
Sometimes what you think is amber may not even be copal, but may be glass,
synthetic resins or plastic!
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Here are some tests you can do to see if you have copal or the real deal:
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Smell Test – Real amber has a distinct pine scent after heating. Copal will
have a "sweet" resin smell but it's not pine.
Solvent Test – Copal and plastic fakes won't pass this test, but it will
damage your piece. Drip a few drops of fingernail polish remover or
alcohol on your piece . . . if it gets tacky or sticky and the solvent takes on
the color of the piece, congrats! You've got yourself a fake! Real amber
won't bat an eyelash over this.
Melt Test – Real amber doesn't melt—it burns. Copal and plastics will
melt at a relatively low temperature (lower than 150 C/300F ). Yes, this is
the same copal many use as incense due to the sweet scent it emits when
burned. If it's plastic....acccck!! The smell will be horrible!
Hot Needle Test – The tip of a hot needle will burn real amber, but copal
or the fakes will melt, so best to try this on an area that no one will see as
this will damage your piece too.
Float Test – Amber will float in salt water. That's why it's so easy to
harvest amber along the beach of the Baltic Sea and for locals on the
Baltic Coast to find it washed up on beaches, especially after storm
events. The amber gets stirred up from a layer known as blue earth, which
is beneath layers of silt and clay on the ocean floor. To do this test, mix
about 1 part salt to 2 parts water and dissolve the salt completely. Drop
your piece into the mixture. Plastic and copal will drop out, while amber
floats.
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Amber also has some cool electrical properties that I wrote about a while back
too. The link to that post is here: http://hibiscusmooncrystalacademy.com/crystalq-a-electrical-properties/ Amber and copal will get a negative electric charge,
while glass will be positively charged.
Plastics will also be charged negatively like amber. Sooo . . . I don't recommend
using this property to test.
Irradiated Crystals
Irradiation of mineral specimens is a pretty common thing. You may not realize it,
but many gemstones on the market are irradiated to get a more vibrant or deeper
color.
Is it dangerous?
Yeah, I'd try to steer clear of them. (You can listen to me get on my soapbox
about this topic here on this interview I did a while back:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lunarwisdom/2011/03/19/frequently-askedquestions-with-hibiscus-moon)
Some commonly irradiated gemstones:
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deeply pigmented topaz
artificially dark (almost black) smokey quartz
very deep pink or red tourmaline
colored diamonds
deeply colored kunzite
some cultured pearls
vibrant yellow heliodor (irradiated pal aquamarine)
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Some sellers choose to take milky quartz and subject it to gamma ray radiation,
normally used to clean germs from medical equipment and food (oh yeah...that's
gamma ray RADIATION on your food . . . sheesh!).
Anyway, back on topic.
So, when they radiate the milky quartz with the gamma rays you get a deeply
pigmented, almost black smoky quartz that's nearly entirely opaque like the one I
show here while I was shopping in Tucson 2012. BTW, Ron Coleman's Mine
openly tells you (if you ask) that their smokey's are irradiated. I really love the
Coleman's and recommend them as a reputable place to buy from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuI18n3r6hE&feature=youtu.be&t=49s
BTW, quartz colored by natural radiation from Mama Earth is not radioactive & is
safe to carry. Yes, Mother Earth NATURALLY radiates quartz that's included with
some aluminum to create smokey quartz, but this is a slower, gentler process. I
explain more about that here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBNj1Yifcs&feature=youtu.be
One telltale sign of an artificially irradiated smokey is that the color fades FAST
when exposed to sunlight, whereas a natural smokey will retain its color longer.
If the seller tells you it’s a natural smokey from Arkansas, raise your eyebrows
way up high because natural smokey's usually don't occur there and they
certainly won't be very dark like I explain in the video link above.
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Morion Quartz
Now don't confuse irradiated quartz with Morion quartz.
This dreamy stuff just recently came on the scene. Its deeply colored, black
quartz only occurs in and around volcanic rocks. These babies are RARE and
formed by natural radiation caused by nearby uranium deposits from South Africa
or in Poland. Natural Morion quartz retains some translucence when held up to
the light as you can see in my pic below.
I have a blog post here that I did all about Morion Quartz. :)
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Rainbow Cal-Silica
Rainbow Cal-Silica is bogus.
Turns out its calcite ground up & mixed in with car paint, plastic and resin!!
YEAH! YUCKO!!
Some sellers will insist that it’s a naturally occurring stone, but there's no
evidence to back it up. With some digging I turned up this juicy document by the
Swiss Gemological Institute that states it’s a fake:
http://www.ssef.ch/uploads/media/2003_Kiefert_Rainbow_Calsilica.pdf.
So that's THAT!
Too bad because that would sure make a purty agate, huh?
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Citrine
Lab-heated citrine seems to be a sore spot with many. So much so that over the
years, as I received many questions about it I've created a few videos to talk
about the topic & show some examples. (See below for vids).
Sometimes when people find out that much of the citrine on the market isn't an
authentic Mama Earth Creation, they may go into a mini-panic, thinking that
they've been duped or that their heat-treated citrine is totally useless. Not
so...IMHO. But more about that in a bit.
How to tell the difference
It's not always an easy task but let me give you a few pointers.
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If its heat-treated citrine, the color will be most concentrated at the tips
with more white at the bottom (see photos below).
Also heat-treated citrine will be sort of crumbly & break apart easily
(friable), since heating the stones at the temps necessary does seem to
weaken the stability of the crystals.
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Natural Citrine
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Heat-Treated Citrine
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How Do They Do It?
The cause of natural citrine color is still under debate. Mother Earth naturally
creates at least some natural citrine with her geo-thermal heat source from within
the mantle (her deluxe gourmet geo-kitchen!) by heating amethyst or smoky
quartz (both are SiO2 (quartz), just as citrine is).
The earth can also produce the deep brown citrine, aka Madeira citrine. This is
rarer than your usual lighter honey or white wine colored natural citrine. Actually,
all types of natural citrine are considered relatively rare. They're no where near
as bountiful as amethyst so they can get be hard to find & a bit pricey. Be
prepared.
When we lab-heat citrine we're simply mimicking what Mama Earth does. You
usually begin with a poorly or lightly colored Brazilian amethyst. Then you heat it
in a kiln to over 900°F (482°C). If you want it to go dark yellow or to red-brown
(Madeira color) then you go up to 1022-1040°F (550-560°C). Some smoky quartz
can turn citrine color as cool as 390°F (199°C). Once the right temp. is reached
the oven is turned off with the crystals left inside, allowing them to cool overnight.
(But many who do this treatment aren't aware, taking the crystals out too soon.
The extreme temp. change caused by cooling too fast can cause "thermal
cracking" where the crystals weaken & crack). This process weakens its crystal
lattice which produces the brittleness...but bear in mind, the molecular
structure is still the same.
Interactive!!
Ain't this the interactive classroom?? My favorite kind. ;)
Crystal Hottie Shayla got to experimenting in her lab kitchen and showed us how
it's done. Thank you Prof. Shayla for sharing this with us, and for your quick
work! *bowing down*
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Check out her results:
Is it Still Citrine?
Yep, yep, yep and I feel that heated/baked crystals and stones can be worked
with very effectively. Heating the stone at these temperatures simply changes the
color & stability of the crystal (they can become more brittle) but doesn't change
its molecular structure & again, IMHO, as long as a crystal’s molecular structure
hasn't been altered, I feel that the crystal will still have inherent and effective
healing qualities.
So, although I feel the healing effects & abilities have not been drastically altered
or reduced, the stone's color (light vibrational frequency) has now been
changed to that of natural citrine's. It’s no longer of the violet light frequency;
it’s now in the orange or yellow light vibrational frequency. So it’s going to
resonate that energy now.
That being said, I do think that heat treating or enhancing a crystal can
somewhat reduce this frequency & effectiveness since it does weaken the crystal
lattice, but it doesn't totally cancel out its potential healing effects. So, no need to
replace your citrine at all. I feel it is still quite valid in its capabilities.
Check out these YouTube videos where I discuss natural and fake citrine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRdvwomAnpY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDK-yCLmsnA&feature=youtu.be
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Whether citrine is heated artificially or naturally, it’s still often commercially
classified as citrine. Remember, this artificial or natural heating is not enough to
change the molecular structure of the crystal so it’s still SiO2. I feel the healing
properties are still those of citrine, but on a lighter scale.
To me, lab-heated citrine's properties are not similar to amethyst's or smoky
quartz’s at all. Through much experimenting of my own as well as that of my
students & clients, baked citrine’s properties align perfectly to my solar plexus
chakra; it's energetically stimulating, it helps with financial issues and it helps us
to be more confident. Now, if you're looking for a piece that's just going to go
BAMMM! in these precise areas, then I'd advise you to go with a natural citrine,
for sure . . . its energies will be much more powerful.
Just as in quantum physics, the scientist doing the observing actually influences
the outcome & properties of the subatomic particles being observed. So,
basically, if you believe it to be so, it simply is, on a subatomic level. Why should
it be any different on a super-atomic level? As below, so it is above, right? Let the
crystals that you know work for you continue to do so . . . if you believe it to be
true, it simply is. No panicking over heat-treated citrine, OK? If it worked for you
before, it's still going to continue to do so . . . unless you think it won't. ;)
Let’s wrap up our talk about citrine with this YouTube video about types of citrine
for crystal healing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDfBeF_9azs
Lapis Lazuli
This baby is no fake, but is one of the most often FAKED stones.
The more high quality variety comes from Afghanistan & Pakistan & is
characterized by a deep & vibrant blue color (from lazurite) & highly sought after
pyrite flecks. Its natural good looks make it popular in the jewelry trade, but it is
more expensive & a bit harder to come by.
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There's a less expensive, less dazzling kind available from South America &
Russia that has more gray in it is more of a dull blue & lacks the pyrite flecks, so
not nearly as sought after.
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The attractiveness of lapis and ease of "fake-ability" make it one to watch out for.
Some will even take less expensive or low quality howlite, jasper or sodalite and
dye it up to make it that vibrant blue. Sometimes even plastic, resins or glass
(either mixed in with lapis lazuli "powder" to make "reconstituted" lapis or pure)
will be passed off as the blue stone.
My Tips for Spotting Fake Lapis:
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Acetone (nail polish remover) will remove the dye from a fake but may
also damage the stone so tread lightly.
If it's very uniform it may be reconstituted (which is not technically fake but
completely altered by man) or plain ole' plastic, resin or glass. Check out
this link for more information about the reconstitution process:
http://www.ask.com/question/how-to-make-reconstituted-stone
Lapis can be confused with sodalite but will have much less white
(calcite), if its heavy on the white then pass
If it has a lot of gray, it's mostly like sodalite; if you know how to do a
streak test, sodalite will have a white streak whereas lapis will have a light
blue streak.
Cheap price is usually an indicator of a fake.
Gaia Stone aka The Goddess Stone, Helenite, Mt. St. Helen's Obsidian,
Green Obsidian, Blue Obsidian
This stone is purported to be created from melting volcanic ash from the eruption
at Mount St. Helen & then shaping it into various forms, possibly mixing it with
other resins & binders. Hence . . . MAN-MADE. Geologists have yet to confirm
any naturally formed green or blue glass in this region.
That would be so totally exciting if this Gaia Stone actually happened all on its
own . . . at the hands of Mother Natures, but is simply not the case. At least we
don't have any evidence yet to prove this.
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Here's the deal. This is scientific fact so there's no arguing here on this:
So, if Mother Earth didn't fuse it together during a volcanic eruption herself . . .
then it ain't obsidian.
But many are taking any sort of glass and calling it obsidian. Some are also
confusing this "blue obsidian" with Andara Crystal (discussed previously). Oh
my...mass confusion here. I just think that's wrong & misleading to misuse the
terminology that way.
So is the glass bottle I'm drinking from an "obsidian bottle"?
Are my windows on my house "obsidian"? *Need to remember that when I put
the house up for sale*:
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C'mon. Same goes for the red, orange & yellow obsidians. Mother Earth does
make many natural & darker colored obsidians . . . but not these colors, Lima
Bean.
If evidence ever does come to light that this was a natural event then I will gladly
take back everything I've said here and high-tail it to the nearest seller to buy a
HUGE honkin' piece of this . . . but until then I'm just steering clear.
Anchi Crystals
I included this "crystal" (seems to be a group of many different crystals) b/c I've
been receiving several frequent questions about it from my students in our
Certified Crystal Healer Course.
Since the “discoverer” of these Anchi crystals hasn’t disclosed the locality of
where these crystals were supposedly found we don’t have much concrete info
about them.
So far they've only disclosed that they "are found in only one location on the
Earth" and that they are a group of over 50 different types of crystals including
opaque or milky quartz & different types of tourmalines. From what I can tell they
are a lower quality group of smaller crystals (so not very clear) and seem to have
been knocked around quite a bit.
I’m still not sure why this outcrop of crystals deserved a special name all their
own (except that they’re trademarked under that name so there’s that).
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Charoite
BEWARE: Chinese fluorite is being sold as "Chinese Charoite", claiming a new
deposit discovered in China. It's BOGUS!
They really look nothing alike to me so I'm surprised this is actually duping
people. Some people have been taking low grade Chinese purple fluorite &
polishing it up to sell as dupes. You'll notice that these "Chinese Charoite" fakes
have a lot of white in them & no swirly pattern. In fact, the purple layers in these
fakes have a very angular pattern to them.
As you can see in the above photo, high grade charoite is vibrantly purple with
very little white + a gorgeous unusual swirly purple pattern (no angles).
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All authentic charoite comes from Russia from the Chara River region. It's the
only place in the world where it's found & it's very rare, hence a hefty price. So
price point can be a good indicator of a fake.
The "Chinese Chaorite" started rearing its head big-time about 5 years ago.
You can determine if your piece is fluorite with a UV light & a scratch test being
that charoite is harder than fluorite... (something our Advanced Crystal Masters
are well-versed on).
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Cinnabar Infused Quartz
Cinnabar crystal is also a tough crystal to come by in large quantities or in large
pieces. Here's my cabochon of cinnabar in milky quartz matrix:
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But the fakes? Oh...very easy to come by! I've seen many with the name,
Cinnabar-Infused Quartz or sometimes they called them "cherry + or strawberry"
quartz. There we go with the Fruity Names again.
*Beware the mercury content in cinnabar.*
Although cinnabar & quartz do grow together naturally, it's usually not in a pretty
swirl as seen in the above photo. Sometimes, the creators of this stuff may even
add some selenium (Se) to get a more red crystal.
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When it is actually cinnabar, it's often reconstituted (melted & mixed with other
stuffs) with clear quartz & then can have plastics & binders added to it, as is most
likely the case in the above orange-y colored cute & polished point.
Here's my big beef with all of this. If the quartz & cinnabar (if there's any real
cinnabar being added at all) are being reconstituted (hence melted down)...then
all you're doing is creating man-made silica glass. So this is no longer holding a
crystalline molecular structure = IT'S NO LONGER A CRYSTAL.
And all of this may be totally OK with you. Nothing wrong with that if it is. I am
here to simply point it out to you. I want to let you know what you're working with
from a geological perspective.
Personally, I prefer my crystals to be actual CRYSTALS and to be 100% Mama
Earth made.
But that's just moi.
Goldstone
Goldstone, aka "aventurine glass", is another man-made glass "gem" that's been
hangin' around for quite a long time . . . since the 17th century! It's very pretty so
I can certainly see why.
Check this sparkly baby out!!
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There's a legend that this "stone" came about when some Venetian glassworking monks accidentally dumped some molten copper into the melted glass
they were working with.
The process is a bit more complicated but here's what goes into it:
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After the molten copper is poured into the molten glass . . .
It's sealed off air-tight and kept at a specific temperature that's hot enough
to maintain in liquid state while still allowing the copper crystals to grow in
the solution but not melting back again,
Then the solution is cooled forming one solid mass.
The cooled mass is broken open for cutting and polishing.
The result is teeny crystallized specks of copper strewn throughout the glass,
reflecting & sparkling up a storm. Although usually a golden coppery color, I've
seen "goldstone" come in all colors, based on the elements added in the
process.
Bismuth
I've been seeing these guys in new age shops & being sold online & peeps just
falling all over themselves over these iridescent bismuth crystals, thinking they're
natural. Not when they look like this. Nope. Sorry to burst that pretty bubble, but
rainbow-colored crystallized Bismuth like that DOES NOT occur in nature.
These Pretty-Babies are lab-grown (usually in Germany). They take liquid
bismuth & super-cool it until it crystallizes.
Here's a great source for Bismuth lab grown crystals who is also quite
knowledgeable & honest: http://www.spiritrockshop.com/Bismuth_Crystals.html
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Lab Grown Bismuth:
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Native natural bismuth born of Mother Earth is usually a dull gray (sometimes it
oxidizes to show some yellow or green), lumpy & doesn't have any visible crystal
structure. So, in other words, BORING.
Magnetic Hematite
OK, this is one that I could not wait to get the word out about because I see many
in our community getting fooled by it.
So, there's real hematite (non-magnetic) and then there's Magnetic Hematite
(FAKE).
Natural Hematite is not naturally magnetic.
There's a small teeny-weeny little magnetic charge in natural hematite, but
nothing you'd be able to feel. So, yeah . . . all those science museum shops that
are stocked with the buzzing "singing" hematite, the magnetic rings and bracelets
. . . they're all bunk.
Magnetic hematite is totally manmade.
We're easily fooled by it b/c it looks just like polished natural hematite with that
mirrored finish. Geologists don’t actually consider the man-made magnetic stuff
as hematite, since its technically just finely powdered iron oxide or ceramic
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barium-strontium ferrite, heated until it granulates & then cooled while it is
attached to very strong magnet. Although, it's made of the same stuff as natural
hematite, it's not the same process at all.
Again, this does not mean that wearing synthetic hematite bracelets (or what
have you) won't work for you. The magnetic effects may indeed be doing you
much good. As always, if it's working...Keep on Truckin'!
Personally, I prefer to not work synthetic stones or crystals if there is a natural
alternative, but it doesn't mean there aren’t benefits to be had.
How do you know if what you have is real or not?:
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
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Is it magnetic? Then it ain't real.
If it's chipped & its white inside, then it ain't real (real hematite is a rusty
reddish, brown).
If you do a streak test and it's gray, it ain't real (real hematite streak is also
a rusty reddish, brown as I demo here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZDP5MyBm6Y&feature=youtu.be).
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Green Quartz
OK, this shiz really made a big splash (with the inexperienced buyers) at the
Tucson Gem Show in 2013-2014! It's been steadily growing in popularity over the
last several years, but this last couple years took the cake & b/c of that, it's
trickled its way into almost every new age crystal shop in every corner of the
world w/ most of the shop owners not knowing any better.
And, OH, the Tucson stories that I was hearing to go along with these suckers!
Such a crime. It was also quite popular on eBay, although I see recently it seems
to have died down . . . thank goodness.
My intuition was telling me they were fakes when I first saw them, but I wanted to
sit with it a bit longer and do some more digging and research to really be
certain.
Well, I found out that, indeed . . . just as I suspected, green quartz can and is
being produced in the lab . . . the very same labs that tech companies use to
manufacture high-quality quartz crystals for electronics.
They use a hydrothermal process; heating a normal clear quartz w/ natural
chromium inclusions (usually a lower quality milky specimen and/or a damaged
clear specimen) with water & chromium under high pressure, causing the quartz
to re-crystallize and actually force it to form new growth that caps and covers the
damaged tips. Then the chromium disperses throughout and changes almost the
entire color of the specimen to a deep forest green!
DEAD GIVEAWAY TELL-TALE SIGNS to look for:
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Crystal tips & apexes that have an etched or stepped growth pattern; due
to the forced re-growth.
Crystal apexes that are trigonal (3 facets) rather than the more common
hexagonal (6 facet).
Deeper green color concentration at apexes (even look like phantoms so
may be higher in price!)
Many of these specimens on eBay hail from China.
Tend to look like spirit or fairy quartz w/ the same sort of teeny crusted
crystals points that tend to cover the crystal shafts; due to the forced regrowth.
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Check out the Difference . . .
FAKE Green Quartz:
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Keep in mind...this fake deep forest green quartz is not to be confused with
Dream Quartz, which is a much lighter green & doesn't look anything like this
stuff.
Don’t Be Fooled By the Rocks That I Got
I realize I sometimes tend to burst people's bubbles with my scientific approach
to working with crystals. Seems I have a slight aversion to working energetically
or spiritually with many of the man-made "crystals," devices” and "stones" that
may be whipped up in a lab. Even so, I'm quite enjoying my role in revealing &
educating on the gemmy fakes & frauds that have crossed my path. I like that my
students know they can come to me & my Crystal Coaches for the low-down.
And if I don't know, I will turn over every rock (pun intended!) to find out the
answer. ;)
So the moral of this story, my sweet Crystal Hotties, is . . . buyer beware. Who
are you buying from? Are they reputable & do they know what they’re talking
about? Be informed & cautious. Don't just believe it b/c someone told you that it
is so.
And again, just to reiterate one more time: If you choose to work with manmade crystals that's totally fine. No judgments from me on that. I,
personally, choose not to.
Let me end by saying that I feel your intuition should always be your first guide. If
a stone or crystal works for you for a particular purpose then don't let anyone or
anything that you read or hear change that for you. For certain people, certain
stones may work very well while not work for others no matter what is said or
written about them.
Thanks for geo-geeking out with me! One of my fav. things to do.
Keep on truckin', Crystal Hottie!
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Spotting Crystal Fakes Handy Reference Guide

Transcription

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