Fake or Real black quartz crystal?

Hello all,

Could someone tell if this "natural" black quartz crystal is real or fake (smelted glass?) - Ebay link

Seller has 99.7% 1520 rating, but i don't know if it's enough proof.

Thanks.

Dear Peter;
Unfortunately, it may or may not be a real quartz xl; the sides are polished, into the xl shape, but, they could have taken ANY large piece of smoky quartz & done that. Unless you had a piezometer, there's virtually no way top tell if that is a polished xl or random piece; but, it is quartz.
Your friend, Steve

Looks like a fake crystal ( cut to look like one) to me ( curved smooth faces, termination angles look wrong). As for smoky quartz, it is probably irradiated clear quartz.

I am fairly certain this has been cut & polished to mimic a quartz xl. Is it a natural xl though? No way to tell for certain from the image, but it does look to be quartz, just not a natural quartz point.

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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

It's a fake. No doubt !!

Typical manufacured item for the New Age market.

Thanks for your answers. Ebay is full of these items, some are as low as 0.99$.

Could someone tell where i can buy original large natural quartz points?

Peter:
Grinding and polishing materials into crystal shapes is very common, especially for the crystal power market. As Reiner said, they often get the termination angles wrong, and all of the "faces" and "edges" are often slightly rounded. Natural quartz crystals usually have very flat faces and sharp edges between them, and there are usually slight striations (steps) on the prism faces that run perpendicular to the length of the crystal. In hand, the difference between a natural and a cut crystal is obvious.

I once had a dealer show me a fist-sized "herkimer" quartz with inclusions and ask me what I thought it was worth. I told her it was a hunk of Brazilian quartz that had been cut - worth a couple of bucks. She was mad at me for that....

There are many dealers that sell natural material. You should be able to tell by most photos whether they are natural or not. Check out the quartz photos on mindat for examples.

Well said Ken.

Dear Peter;
If you wish to have a natural, unbeautified, LARGE quartz points, there are many dealers who can supply such; PM me & I'll give you a list of them. As far as the quartz, I believe it to be natural smokey, as it is FAR cheaper & more plentiful to use natural smokey chunks (cents/lb), rather than irradiated material, which costs about a $1/lb.

Glad to see you wish the real thing!

your friend, Steve

hi people
i wanted to ask you how to spot fake crystal? i have tiger's eye and i dont know if it os real or not?
i am from montenegro (europe) and there are many goods from china and india here.There they paint glass and sell it like crystals. please help me how to recognize real crystal from fake one.

Crystals generally have sharp angular crystals. Tiger eye is a quartz family mineral and is not found in crystals, but rather massive forms, typically vein sections usually not more than 3 inches thick. If you can attach an image of what you think may be a "fake crystal" we may be able to advise you better. It sounds like you are not really sure what a crystal is or is not. Do you want to know if your tiger eye specimen is real or not?

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Hello Peter:

Your quartz is certainly polished, the angle between the termination faces and the prism faces are steeper than in a natural quartz crystal; about the color, irradiated quartz normally show an homogeneous color (because it is normally made out of colorless quartz), whilst natural dark smoky quartz normally show shades of lighter and darker zones, so if your specimen show slightly different color shades (you have to investigate it against a strong light) there is a good chance that it was not irradiated (on the photo it is impossible to see the internal color).

Luiz Menezes

Hi Peter, I would highly reccomend obtaining a cathedral smokey quartz specemin from Canvic, Romaia. They usually have a dolomite coating on half of the points resembling snow covered mountians. They are a must have for any natural smokey quartz collection. They look like this,

[cgi.ebay.com]

I would not reccoment buying this particluar piece because it is overpriced, buy they do show up for auction periodically and I have obtained bigger clusters for abou $150 or so. They are cathedral type growth, completely natural and un treated. they grow on a bed of galena, and pyrite so they are exposed to natural radiation from the hydrothermal vent that they grew on. Good luck,

Ariel

Ariel,
Actually as far as I know all smoky quartz from Romania is irridiated.
I was informed of that AFTER purchasing one.
AK

Technically, all smoky quartz is irradiated, from everywhere. The question is only whether it was irradiated by Nature, at low levels for a very long period of time, or by a human being using intense radiation for a very short time.

Hi Adam,
Some of it may be irradiated, but these pictures of the mine clearly show smokeys growing from the wall of Boldut mine in situ. It is pretty safe to say that if the quartz is growing atop galena and pyrite, that natural radiation is present or was present at the time of crystal growth. That type of hydrothermal activity is a pretty safe bet the radiation is natural occuring. Most specemines require some cleaning to clear off some of the dolomite overgrowth and other crusties.If some of the specemines are being irradiated then there is some definate variety out there. Here is the proof. Courtesy of mindat!

[www.mindat.org]

[www.mindat.org]

[www.mindat.org]

[www.mindat.org]

Ariel

Adam is right, I've been told by local experts that there is NO natural smoky quartz (except some very pale brown) from the area. It's all irradiated artificially.

And Ariel, I can't see any evidence of smoky quartz in those photos - don't forget even with clear quartz, when underground connected to rock you'll see through it - to the dark rock! And Galena and Pyrite environments generally don't have enough radiation to do it.

So my advice would NOT be to buy any romanian "smokey" cathedrals, at least not if you want something thats entirely natural.

Jolyon

Idiots never learn,
Smart people learn from their mistakes,
Genuises learn from other peoples mistakes.
I learned the hard way.
AK

I purchased mine from MT Minerals from New York. Diddn't say anything about that when I bought it.

It still is nice though. It even had a little party glitter on it when I got it. Must have payed for the alcohol onhtat one.

Ariel



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