crystal fakes

Yep, we’ve got more crystal fakes to talk about today. 😀 Yahoooo!

On my most recent trip out to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show I attended a lecture on Fake Minerals.

Oh my gosh…this was so right up my alley! Can you make a Crystal Hottie/Nerd any happier? I mean… finding an academic lecture to attend while hanging out at the biggest most glittery gem show in the world, teaching about mineral frauds. Whaaaaa? You better believe I was front row & center, glasses pressed down tight on my nose, notebook & pencil in hand! Poor Frankie (my hubs) suffered through too. He’s such a good sport! 🙂

crystal fakes

I like to stay current on my geo-geekiness so I can continue to bring you the most up-to-date & valuable info + sparkly content.

Plus I just looooove learning!! ♥

One of my greatest joys is educating our #CrystalHottie community on what’s available out there. This way we can all make informed decisions when adding specimens to our sacred collections. If you feel passionate about this too, please share this post in any way you prefer. (***There are some handy-dandy “SHARE” buttons you can use at the bottom***).

So, today I have 3 more fakes or common confusion-makers to talk about. Let’s dive in!

Ruby Zoisite

This stone is highly sought after as it’s often recommended to help support people dealing with some serious illnesses. Quite a chakra-versatile stone, it helps to balance the heart chakra as well as the root & the third eye while also boosting vitality and a joy for life.

Here we have some gorgeous real-deal Ruby Zoisite (photo below) with HUGE chunks of hexagonal ruby in the middle of the stones. YUM!!

But it more commonly expresses itself like this (photo below) …

crystal fakes

By Parent Géry (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

HOWEVER…

many sellers are selling Ruby Fuschite as Ruby Zoisite and they are simply not the same thing!

I think most sellers are totally not aware & are simply repeating what they’re being told from whoever they’re buying the minerals from. **It happened to me & I was part of the problem at one point.**  Yep, I was selling ruby fuschite as ruby zoisite about eight years ago simply b/c that’s what the wholesaler told me it was! So I just believed him & went with it. Then a fellow geo-geek pointed out my mistake. *Thank you!* I did some research & testing & found out what was up.

I then discovered that most sellers out there at the time were also perpetuating this same exact misinformation.

I mean, you can see how the confusion would happen, right?

Although, I do notice this mix-up happening less often these days…I do still see it happening so I had to include it here in this post.

Ruby Fuschite (seen below in that giant sphere) is relatively plentiful…unlike Ruby Zoisite, which is much harder to come by and is usually a bit more expensive.

(BTW…don’chya luv how dry and wrinkly my hands get in the Tucson desert? It’s a thing of beauty!)

crystal fakes

Fuschite is a type of mica (variation of Muscovite) and you can see it’s a sea-foam green color (in the above photo).

Zoisite is a totally different mineral…(the most expensive form of Zoisite is Tanzanite!) and it’s a deeper sparkly green color usually accompanied by some black amphibole hornblende (shown below).

Amphibole Hornblende

***Spotting those black dots of amphibole hornblende is the easiest way to tell them apart if the differences in the green hue are iffy.***

Now that you’re in the know… it’s pretty easy to tell the difference, right?

Just wanted to set the geological record straight on that one. 😉

Pink/Purple Chalcanthite Crystal Fakes

This, Crystal Hottie, is a straight-up lab-created CRYSTAL FAKE.

I spotted these all over the place at 2017’s Tucson Gem & Mineral Show. They seemed to be the new HOT ITEM this year. BOOOO!

crystal fakes

Small natural Chalcanthite crystals are actually a natural by-product of dry area copper mining (will usually be a smallish bit of blue/green crust). It usually forms on the mine walls due to acidic surface waters interacting with the copper veins & can be found in copper mines located in Arizona, Greece & France.

I’ve not personally worked with it so I don’t have much to say about the metaphysical aspects of this crystal in its natural form. However, the natural blue crystals would be ideal for harmonizing with the throat chakra light wavelength. If you try it out in that way, please let me know in the comments below!

Natural Chalcanthite. Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

These larger pink or purple (or even neon blue) fake towers are easily grown in tubs from a hydrated copper sulfate… and are potentially TOXIC.

This person was selling theirs online as “Rose Quartz”!!! REALLY?! ***that one pisses me off!***

crystal fakes

Super-Dye-Saturated Quartz

I’ve seen this stuff for a number of years at the gem shows and thought it looked obviously dyed…

crystal fakes

But, apparently, it ain’t so obvious...

I heard lots of comments from people walking by them (again at the most recent Tucson Gem Show) …oooh-ing & ahhh-ing over it & wondering how all those pretty colors got in there from the Earth.

**cringe**

NO, I don’t say anything or bother to correct them. I’m not super forward like that. If someone asks for my opinion, I’ll give it. But usually, I just keep my mouth shut. However, here on my blog, I have an open forum! So, I’m here once again to burst the fun glitter-filled rainbow unicorn bubble…

These quartz clusters are saturated with dye.

And be forewarned: the dye wears, washes off or fades quite quickly too!

I already talked about dyed quartz agate here so I won’t spend any more time on that in this post.

Always use your common sense & the best protection from this is to be well-informed yourself.

**Please SHARE this info with other Crystal Hotties so that we all stay in-the-know & well-informed. No duping us with FAKES!!!!**
If you want to learn how to navigate all the crystal fakes creeping into the market these days, please check out my Crystal Savvy Class Elective.

Do your thing

If you choose to work with man-made crystals & you enjoy them just fine or it’s been working for you…as I always say:

“keep on ‘truckin’”. Don’t change a thing!

I just want us all to have the geo-knowledge first. Then you can make an informed decision regarding how you choose to use these “stones”.

And as always, the moral of the story here is…Buyer Beware: Who are you buying from? Are they reputable? Do they know what they’re talking about? Are you doing your own due diligence and research? The best way to protect yourself is education. And again…

If you want to learn how to navigate all the crystal fakes creeping into the market these days, please check out my Crystal Savvy Class Elective.

You got this Crystal Hottie!  We all love the beautiful jewels that mama earth creates & you don’t know what you don’t know…until you know better.  So, I hope you enjoyed this new info and have learned something new.  Have you seen any of these or new fakes that you sleuth-ed out recently?  I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Crystal Blessings,

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