Charoite? You gotta be kidding me...

Ugh.

Some metaphysical dealers on eBay are selling this new polished item out of China as Charoite, even though it doesn't look like it at all, save for the purple color. Purple fluorite. Sigh.

Feel free to e-mail these chumps and give them a piece of your mind.

Sellers need to beware of what the items ACTAULLY are out of China. Chinese lapidary factories are notorious for selling lapidary materials as what they look like, rather than what they are. This is just a case of someone reading the invoice from China and saying, yeah, that IS some Charoite. Well, it isn't. Look at the cleavage for crying out loud!

Anyway, take a look.
[www.fakeminerals.com]

Justin

That's not even close! They look nothing alike. I'm stunned at the amount of fake cheroite that comes up for sale on Ebay.
Thanks for the heads up. This just makes me very happy that I prefer to either collect my own, or trade with someone else who does too.

Regards,
Corie Mattar

Corie,

You can't collect your own Charoite though.

In the winter time is the only chance you get to collect it, when the rivers are frozen. I heard that a TANK is the vehicle of choice to get to the remote collecting spot.

I see that this is not NEARLY as exciting as Arkansas Diamond Fraud. Oh, if only people faking regualar minerals was as exciting as DIAMONDS. OMGDIAMONDSOMG!

Actually I was on your site reading this the other day, before seeing this post.
I feel as strongly against this as I did about Eric and his diamond situation.
I think that there is a real sense of justice being done with the Diamonds, being that it is in America where you aren't supposed to get away with those kinds of acts. The Charoite is from Chinese dealers, and I fear that the "justice" isn't going to be as easy to deal with.

For what it is worth, your help in identifying these fraud minerals is a great help as we are all educated by your Sherlock Holmes tactics!
Hang in there, we really DO care.
Gail

seconded gail

it has nothing to do with money and everything to do with rooting out dubious practices.

keep up the good work justin

At least the diamonds were still diamonds; this is a completely different mineral. Worse in my opinion.

Though the diamond fraud is a bit more exciting just from the audacity of it: he actually went to the park and pretended to find the diamonds, rather than just sell them out of some warehouse in China.

I'm looking for someone who might have bought some of this material from one of these dealers on eBay. I would like a third party to run a short series of tests on this material.

Thanks

Justin,
I have no tank (darnit!) so I guess my collection will go on without the charoite.
I did, however, get an info sheet on the 'ebay charoite' from one of the sellers.
Here is what she sent me:
---------
Hello,
This stone is Charoite from China. I also sell Charoite from
Russia.
Following is the information that you might like to look at
regarding this stone:

Chemical Composition:
(Ca,K,Na)3Si4O10(OH,F)·H2O)
Sometimes with inclusions of quartz and
manganese.
Some of our Chinese Charoite wil also have inclusions of green
orthoclase.
Charoite may contain inclusions of the mineral tinaksite,
which appears as a golden, spire-like shape running through the
material.

Hardness: 5-6

Location: Russia has been the only location
where Charoite has been found, until just recently. Charoite is a
relatively "new" mineral, and has only been exported from Russia and sold
since 1978. Charoite has now been discovered and recently mined in China as
well. We carry both Russian and Chinese Charoite. Russian Charoite tends to
have a richer, deeper color. The Chinese Chaoite tends be a lighter
lavender color, and often contains green orthoclase as well.
----------

Hope this helps, (I know it is not the same as testing a piece yourself)

Corie