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Fakes & FraudsTombstone Silver Specimens

18th Feb 2016 14:09 UTCRolf Luetcke Expert

I was following the thread about the roasted gold with interest since Mason Coggins gave me a shot gold they used to use in the early days to salt mines being sold as rich gold mines and it looks quite real but I stray from why I post this.

When I ran my mineral store not far from Tombstone a man from the area came by and offered me some very nice silver specimens he said were from Tombstone, the State of Maine Mine to be precise.

My wife and I had been dealing in minerals for many years and immediately thought the specimens were too bright to be natural and I said to the fellow that we thought they were lab produced. He had said nothing about them being lab produced when he offered them to us but as soon as we called him out he admitted that he was making the specimens.

I have seen the specimens posted on mindat for Tombstone and think those are from the same source.

I am not certain but I had seen the specimens the man was making and the ones posted look exactly the same.

I truly feel he was selling them as Tombstone silver to anyone who was buying but if you didn't ask if they were real he didn't say.

I think a number of them got onto the market with the people assuming they were natural.

This was back in the late 1980's, early 1990's and I have no idea if anyone else has an opinion, real or man made?

Rolf Luetcke

18th Feb 2016 15:40 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

You mean these? http://www.mindat.org/photo-3861.html He says he found no evidence that they were artifical but then he gives no evidence that they are not. I would say they are fake unless proof can be provided otherwise.

18th Feb 2016 22:33 UTCRolf Luetcke Expert

Yes Reiner, those are the crystals I mean. They were the exact same ones the man brought to our store and said they were Tombstone silvers. He admitted he was lab growing them. I was posting this because he could easily have sold them to other stores that didn't ask if they were real or lab grown and then they got sold as natural Tombstone silvers.

I don't know if the State of Maine mine ever actually produced silvers that looked like this. I would love to know if they are natural or lab grown but have no way to check this out. We didn't buy any since he said they were lab grown and we didn't deal in those.

The other three silver specimens from Tombstone besides those from the State of Maine Mine are pretty much like I have seen silvers from Tombstone but these are just too perfect and have me very suspicious.

If the man hadn't told us he was making them I never would have even doubted the ones on mindat.

19th Feb 2016 01:01 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

Silver crystals are so easy to make one should always start from a position of doubt. Unless someone can prove they are not fake then one should assume they are.

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