"Reclaimed amethyst" - another marketing name for glass?

Does anyone know for sure what is being sold as "reclaimed amethyst" and "reclaimed carnelian?"

A google search for "reclaimed amethyst" only finds small pictures that are very hard to ID along with descriptions like "it's all the bits of amethyst left over from drilling and shaping amethyst, held together by resin, shaped and drilled into beads. It is amethyst, and it's consistent, and it's much less expensive than regular amethyst. It is lovely, and feels nice, and the seller said they haven't had returns because people like them."

Most of the pictures show relatively clear beads, not like any compressed stone held together with resin. Price is too cheap to be lab grown synthetic amethyst. (I've bought that material as beads and donuts from Chinese cutters who cut from slabs grown on a thin sheet of clear quartz. The synthetic grown amethyst is not particularly cheap)

My suspicion is that it is plain old glass.

Russ,

A simple hardness test on the amethyst or carnelian pieces would be pretty conclusive.

Cliff

Thanks, Cliff.

I don't own any of this so-called reclaimed amethyst. I was hoping someone could shed some light on the latest misleading marketing name. Just trying to keep ahead of these trends in the bead trade.

I guess I need to order some of this stuff or look for some to purchase in Tucson this year. Some of the items sold under this name on line look like the usual rockshop tumbled amethyst pebbles. Hardly worth imitating. Others look like relatively clear purple beads.

If you can put a small piece between a couple polarizing filters it might be aniostropic which might mean it is glass.

Eric D. Fritzsch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you can put a small piece between a couple
> polarizing filters it might be aniostropic which
> might mean it is glass.

Glass is isotropic, unless it is strained, and should remain dark between crossed polars. Even then, between crossed polars the wavy extinction of strained glass is distinct from the sharp and regular extinction of quartz. By the way, a white flat computer screen emits plane polarized light so all you need is one polaroid filter, which could be polaroid sunglasses or 3D movie spectacles (viewed from the 'front').