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Fakes & FraudsFake or Real black quartz crystal?
3rd Feb 2010 16:58 UTCPeter Miranon
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.
3rd Feb 2010 17:06 UTCsteven garza
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
3rd Feb 2010 20:35 UTCReiner Mielke Expert
4th Feb 2010 03:48 UTCJamey Swisher
4th Feb 2010 04:24 UTCCraig Mercer
4th Feb 2010 07:46 UTCNeil A. Richards Expert
4th Feb 2010 12:45 UTCPeter Miranon
Could someone tell where i can buy original large natural quartz points?
4th Feb 2010 14:34 UTCAnonymous User
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.
5th Feb 2010 00:59 UTCAdam Kelly
5th Feb 2010 20:16 UTCsteven garza
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
3rd Mar 2010 23:49 UTCmarko
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.
4th Mar 2010 07:41 UTCRock Currier Expert
4th Mar 2010 15:18 UTCLuiz Alberto Dias Menezes, Fo.
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
4th Mar 2010 18:42 UTCAriel S Wall
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-HOODED-SMOKY-QUARTZ-Crystal-Dolomite-Caps-Romania_W0QQitemZ380197099211QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item58858356cb
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
5th Mar 2010 00:09 UTCAdam Kelly
Actually as far as I know all smoky quartz from Romania is irridiated.
I was informed of that AFTER purchasing one.
AK
5th Mar 2010 00:39 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
5th Mar 2010 01:02 UTCAriel S Wall
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!
http://www.mindat.org/photo-195850.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-126563.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-206311.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-195853.html
Ariel
5th Mar 2010 01:54 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
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
5th Mar 2010 02:10 UTCAdam Kelly
Smart people learn from their mistakes,
Genuises learn from other peoples mistakes.
I learned the hard way.
AK
5th Mar 2010 03:01 UTCAriel S Wall
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
http://www.mindat.org/photo-215172.htmll
5th Mar 2010 03:09 UTCLuiz Alberto Dias Menezes, Fo.
Luiz
6th Mar 2010 00:14 UTCAdam Kelly
In my humble opinion, you are correct.
Inconsistencies could help in identifying natural, verse artificially irridiated quartz.
14th Apr 2010 01:34 UTCRusty James
29th Apr 2010 16:27 UTCR.S.Taylor
18th Oct 2010 13:43 UTCalven
26th Jun 2012 02:29 UTCJohnSmitt
29th Jun 2012 23:46 UTCDaniel jacobs
22nd Jul 2012 19:58 UTCKristopher Dingfield
28th Jul 2012 14:30 UTCOwen Lewis
I went to SMAM 2012 where, shall we say, Quartz in all qualities and sorts was not in short supply. I saw one display of "Citrine" that intrigued me. That these were smallish, naturally formed, Quartz xtls seemed beyond doubt at a glance, But all of these xtls were 'burned' smoky-black at the tip of the termination and also at some of the other facet junctions. These were being sold (very modestly priced) as natural Citrine.
So what had been going on here? A botched attempt to produce Citrine from colourless Quartz through over-irradiation? Or an attempt to produce Citrine from Smoky Quartz through heating? My guess would be that it was a result of an irradiation process; it seem logical that, in either process, colour change should first occur where the material has the least depth, this in turn producing opposite effects with the alternative processes, Only the irradiation process could give/leave the burned tips, The effect (and deduction) is not unlike considering an Alaska Bake that had been flashed with a blowtorch just before serving, to partly carbonise the tips of the meringue casing.
Natural or artificial irradiation? Again a guess, my inclination would be to artificial radiation, 'high and fast' seeming key to producing this blowtorch effect.
Anyone else look at this and wonder? Sadly, I took no pics.
4th Jun 2014 21:12 UTCTonyA
do you think those clear quartz crystals are fake?
Please advice! Thank you in advance
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371058653829?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#viTabs_0
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CARNELIAN-CRYSTAL-QUARTZ-GEMSTONE-EARRINGS-SOLID-925-SILVER-JEWELRY-IE14007-/371074154826?pt=Fashion_Jewelry&hash=item5665be414a
4th Jun 2014 21:56 UTCWayne Corwin
Sorry, no way to tell from just photo's, there cut stones, if there stones, can't do any tests on them :-S
11th Jun 2014 15:47 UTCAnonymous User
18th Jun 2014 10:10 UTCRock Currier Expert
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 23, 2024 10:31:13