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13 Misunderstood Gemstones
If you understand the concept of "trade names," you're way ahead in the game. These names are given to certain gemstones to make them seem more valuable or exotic, but don't necessarily describe what the stone actually is. Would you rather buy "flower jade" or "dyed quartz?" "Mystic topaz" sounds a lot nicer than "topaz with a man-made coating," and of course "turquoise" sounds a lot more valuable than "dyed howlite." Ethics of misrepresenting a product aside, it's always handy to be aware of what you're buying, whether you're buying beads or a finished piece of jewelry. If you buy opalite beads, you'll be able to tell your customers exactly what they're getting, and if you're eyeing some goldstone earrings in a store, you'll know what you're buying. As for the pros and cons of buying and/or using altered (dyed, treated) or man-made stones... well, that's a topic for another post. 1. Sea opal or opalite is one of the newest man-made materials with an exotic name to crop up. It's either plastic or glass, and has a shimmer vaguely like opal. To make things a little more confusing, paua and abalone shell are sometimes also referred to as "sea opal." 2. Hematite is very rarely real hematite any more. What you're buying is most likely hematine or hemalyke, a man-made material identical to the human eye. The only difference is whether it was made in a factory or by Mother Nature. 3. Fruit quartzes - such as strawberry, cherry, blueberry or pineapple quartz - are all man-made. They can generally be recognized by their streaks of color inside clear glass. These beads are very highly priced right now due to their popularity. An exception is lemon quartz, which seems to be natural, except when it's been heated. 4. Turquoise is one of the most confusing gemstones to research or buy. True turquoise is getting rarer, so dozens of imitations are popping up, from dyed howlite to look-alikes such as African Turquoise. (Images from SVP Jewelry and Precious Pebbles, respectively.) All genuine turquoise sold today is stabilized due to its softness, and some stones are "bonded" with epoxy to increase their endurance. "Reconstituted" turquoise consists of unusable fragments which are powdered and glued together into a solid stone. Wikipedia also has a good article on turquoise imitations and treatments. Be suspicious of "turquoise" with no matrix, or anything offered as "genuine" at a very low price. 5. Olive jade is actually serpentine. Be on the lookout for [exotic name] + jade, or anything that says 'jade' after it. Putting a name in single quotes is a big red flag screaming "this isn't actually what it's advertised as, but we sell more if we call it that." 6. Goldstone is a man-made material of copper chips mixed into glass. It is available in several colors including the typical reddish-orange, blue, and green. 7. Cat's eye gemstones occur in nature, but the colorful cat's eye beads you buy are created from fiber optic glass. 8. Black onyx is dyed. In its natural form, it's a pretty banded stone. (Image from Precious Pebbles.) 9. Coral beads, as far as I can tell from my research and contrary to the hysteria in some quarters, do not come from endangered reefs. Coral is slow-growing, though, so over-collection could endanger those types of coral as well. 10. I have yet to find a Blue quartz that isn't dyed, but there might be one out there. 11. It seems that ruby zoisite may not be zoisite at all, but rather ruby in fuschite. Check out Migem's short gemology blurb about the development. 12. Blackstone is just about any stone that's been dyed black. Expect these to be the cheapest stone the factory had lying around to dye. 13. I'm having a hard time finding information on what I've seen advertised in craft stores as fossil stone, but it seems to be fragments of stone glued together and dyed. Don't expect to see real fossils in it. Here's a supplier who either doesn't care or doesn't know that what they're selling is actually glass and not quartz. Caveat emptor. Back to Articles and Tips |