How to distinguish a stone from. Fake semi-precious stones. How to distinguish a gem from a fake

Moonstone has been considered one of the most powerful magical minerals since ancient times. A natural gem can be transparent and colorless, have a light gray and bluish tint, sometimes even with a yellow tint.

Adularia is highly valued not only for its beauty, but also for the healing and magical powers it is endowed with. The crystal actively helps in the presence of diseases associated with the nervous system, helps with digestive problems, allergies and asthma. It is considered a symbol and talisman of lovers, it helps to find a soul mate, and if the partner’s feelings pass, then it quickly fades and loses its natural luster.

Powerful magical properties, beauty and value - this is what attracts people to the lunar crystal. However, this is a rather rare gem and its production is limited. Today, fakes for this mineral are very widespread and only a few know how to distinguish a real moonstone from a fake.

How to distinguish a real moonstone from a fake?

One of the most obvious and important features of the moon gem, in the presence of which one can accurately determine its naturalness, is iridescence (the ability to flicker).

• There are several varieties of adularia, which are often passed off as a genuine specimen, due to their similar ability to glow: belomorite and peristerite. You can distinguish a mineral from fakes based on them only by price. Natural crystal will be expensive, unlike more affordable quality imitations.

• You can also distinguish adularia from a synthetic fake made of plastic or glass by considering the presence or absence of a natural glow in it. Without seeing the flicker, you can definitely say that you have a fake in front of you.

• Genuine adularia is not able to refract light at an angle of more than 15 degrees. If it glows the same way from different angles, it is definitely not the original.

• Any natural crystal, due to certain properties, does not heat up, therefore, taking it in hand, it will remain cool for a long time. Thus, it is possible to distinguish most natural minerals from cheap imitations.

• How to distinguish a natural moonstone from a synthetic gem? In the case of a moon crystal, it is worth remembering that an artificially grown or fake gem will be much brighter and richer than the original.

• If you feel the surface of a natural adularia, it may seem that you are touching a silk fabric. An artificial mineral will not have such a strong effect.

• The gem will never be sold in jewelry stores.

Only a specialist or a jeweler can unequivocally determine the authenticity of a piece of jewelry, having carried out the necessary texts and checks. In order not to make a mistake with the choice and not fall for scammers and their fakes, choose stores that specialize in the sale of natural gems.

The Mineral Market online store is a world of jewelry with natural precious and semi-precious gems. Here you will find the widest selection of jewelry in St. Petersburg at an affordable cost.

It's no secret that women love gemstones. Some men (maybe most), it must be said, also understand a lot about jewelry, trying to profitably invest in gold and diamonds or just to please their beloved.

When investing in diamonds, you should be careful: there are special investment diamonds, not jewelry diamonds.

The rules of the game are now dictated by the consumer, because the supply on the jewelry market greatly exceeds demand. Jewelers are interested in every client, because jewelry is not an essential item, and the buyer needs to be interested in time, otherwise he can spend money on something else, more necessary.

The need to purchase a piece of jewelry with a precious stone arises on special occasions: for a wedding, anniversary, birthday and other holidays. Having studied, or, we usually move on to the following questions:

How to distinguish natural stone from synthetic?

How to distinguish a natural gem from a fake?

To answer the first question, we will first make a brief overview of which minerals are most often sold on the jewelry market.

Comparison of natural and synthetic minerals

When purchasing a gemstone, you want to be sure that it is natural. However, many are willing to buy and wear synthetic counterparts, such as synthetic rubies or diamonds, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their own taste and preferences. The main thing is that under the guise of natural you are not sold synthetic, because this is fraud and deception of the buyer.

Self-respecting jewelry houses and brands do not mislead consumers and will not give out one stone after another. Small manufacturers or sellers can go for deception, who answer the questions: what gem is inserted into the product? and who is the manufacturer ?, they answer: “I don’t know,” and they begin to talk vaguely about the long journey from Iran through Australia, during which information about the manufacturer is irretrievably lost. On the tag of such sellers, the type of product (earrings, for example) and the price are modestly indicated. It may also be written by hand - "ruby", but, as can be understood from the above, you can write anything you want, and usually - the stone with which the most outward resemblance.

Deception in the sale of synthetic stone can only be inflated prices. If a product with artificially grown chrysoberyl is sold for $ 10, then there is no fraud in this. Another thing is if for the same product they ask for 10 times more, 100 dollars, for example, giving out, thus, for a natural gem.

In jewelry stores, as a rule, it is not indicated which stone is natural or synthetic, especially if the products belong to the so-called "budget" niche. But the seller, of course, will easily confirm the origin of the stones from the laboratory and even competently make it clear why synthetic stones are better than natural ones.

But a synthetically created diamond is even more expensive than its natural “relative”.

So, here is how the prices of natural and synthetic stones compare:

Synthetic and natural stones - differences in price

It can be concluded that natural gems have a very wide range of prices due to their individuality. Unlike them, synthetic ones - with ideal purity and color, are much more affordable (with the exception of moissonite).

How to distinguish a precious stone from a fake?

It is much worse if instead of one natural stone, which is expensive by definition, the seller offers another, also natural, but at a price several times cheaper. Here, information about which stones are most often faked and what to look for when buying them can come to the rescue.

So, the most common fakes are:

- it is most often faked. More than half of the gems passed off as turquoise are fakes. The materials used for counterfeiting are glass, plastic, and the cheap mineral howlite. In addition, fakes are made from turquoise powder or its small particles that stick together. It is quite difficult to distinguish such fakes at home from a natural mineral. It is clear that at home you can scratch the stone from the back to make sure it is natural, and when choosing in a store, you are unlikely to be allowed to scratch the product and carry out other manipulations with it. Therefore, just be aware that natural turquoise is very difficult to find and it is better not to purchase it on the market or from hands.

- Corundum is usually issued for a ruby. A natural ruby ​​is very expensive, besides, it is far from ideal in appearance - unclear, not particularly clean, not to mention modest in size. If you have an excellent quality ruby ​​at an affordable price, it is either a synthetic ruby ​​or a fake. Therefore, the main rule for determining the authenticity of a ruby ​​is the correspondence between price and quality. So, a ring with a ruby ​​that has the characteristics of color and purity of 3/3 and a size of half a carat will cost about $ 300.

There are only a few stones whose fakes are quite easy to distinguish.

Or rather, of course, t. Firstly, the legislation regulates the production and labeling of products with diamonds and, thus, the consumer is largely protected. In addition, everyone knows the simple property of a diamond to scratch glass, as well as the play of rays in it - it is simply impossible to fake it, but it is very easy to consider multiple refraction of rays and an amazing play of light in a high-quality diamond.

It is also easy to distinguish natural opal from its imitation - it has blurry borders of patterns, unlike clear ones in a fake, and the patterns themselves never repeat with each other, you should carefully consider them. In addition, the main background of the natural opal remains unchanged, regardless of the pattern. There is another method that was invented many centuries ago (apparently already then they were engaged in fake stones) - you need to look through the opal in the sun, a natural stone will cast a glow of one shade, and a fake one - bright multi-color highlights.

Zircon - you can recognize it "by eye", without resorting to any manipulations at all. Natural zircon has a luster similar to diamond and at the same time resinous or oily. Shine plus color - and zircon is easily identified.

I really love natural stones and when traveling around India I always buy them for myself, for gifts and for sale, precious and semi-precious, and of course, in order to buy, and not a fake, you need to understand at least a little about natural stones and their properties.
Recently, a friend of my mother called and complained that half of her stones - as it turned out during testing - are fakes, and not even stones, but just plastic.
So I decided to write very simple tips on how to distinguish a natural stone from a fake on the go: plastic, glass, ceramics, because, unfortunately, not only precious stones, but even semi-precious, ornamental ones are faked in Russia and even in India.

Preface. Stone price

A natural cut or polished stone cannot cost 10 kopecks, simply because its processing costs more, so if you want to buy cheap, you will get a fake a priori.
I note right away that such natural stones as turquoise or malachite are not just not cheap, but quite expensive, because they are almost gone in nature. They learned to fake turquoise back in the Middle Ages, so there simply is no cheap turquoise, everything that is sold in non-jewelry stores and in 1 cm pieces is a fake. The same applies to cheap amber, now they have learned to blow bubbles into fake plastic amber and immure insects in it.

And now, simple ways to distinguish a natural stone from a fake by ear, by weight, by heat. For a sample, take a guaranteed natural stone, for example, a small pebble from the road, with which you can compare the quality of the stone you want to buy.

Testing natural stone with heat

Natural stones and pearls, unlike fakes, are always cold, while plastic and ceramics are warm initially!
Attach the stone to your lips or chin, it will remain cool for a few seconds, but the plastic fake will immediately heat up, and the ceramic will also heat up, though more slowly.

natural stone by ear

Natural stones make a characteristic sound when tapped on glass or metal, which distinguishes them from fakes. Again, compare the sound of the purchased stone with a sample - pebbles, if you slipped a fake, you will hear the difference.

natural stone by weight

Natural stones are always heavier than plastic and most ceramics, here to check you will have to find a pebble of the same size as the one you buy and compare the weight.

natural stone nail

All minerals are distinguished by their hardness, I will not touch class 1 precious stones with high hardness, but I will tell you a little about some popular inexpensive and not very expensive stones.
Garnet, Tourmaline and Quartz (Aventurine, Agate, Rock Crystal, Amethyst, Citrine, Cat's Eye, Hawk's Eye, Tiger's Eye) have a hardness of 7 and will scratch glass.
Opal, rutile and feldspars (moonstone, adularia, sunstone, etc.) have a hardness of 6, scratch glass, but they can be scratched with a file.
Hematite, lapis lazuli, apatite has a hardness of 5, they no longer scratch glass, on the contrary, with effort they can be scratched with glass or a knife.
Fluorite has a hardness of 4, scratching it with glass and a knife is easy.
Calcite (Icelandic spar, satin spar, marble onyx, marble, etc.) have a hardness of 3, just like silver, gold is a little harder.
Gypsum has a hardness of 2 and can be scratched with a fingernail. Gypsum is associated with fractures, but this mineral forms very beautiful crystals and arrays, it is used for jewelry and crafts, treated with durable varnish on top. Thus, a wonderful selenite with silky tints may well be passed off as a more expensive and hard moon or sun stone.

True, one must also be able to scratch, given the crystalline structure of the stone, so it is better to ask the seller to demonstrate the hardness of the selected stone, normal sellers always have special pencils or testers for this.

Advanced ways to distinguish a stone from a fake are described in the article, and I described one of the examples of diagnostics using the property of luminescence in the article

PS I would be grateful to those who share their experience of verification or other ways to distinguish a stone from a fake

There are so many minerals - perhaps part of the reason why they are so interesting to collect. On this page you will find a description of experiments that can be carried out without special equipment and thus significantly narrow the search area, as well as a description of the most common minerals that can be compared with the results of the experiments. You can even go to the description section right now - maybe you will immediately, without any experience, be able to find the answer to your question. For example, in this section, you will learn how to tell real gold from other shiny yellow minerals, read about streaks of brilliant colored layers in the rock, or learn how to determine what kind of strange mineral that flakes into plates when rubbed.

Steps

Part 1

First, let's understand the difference between minerals and ordinary stones. A mineral is a natural combination of chemical elements that forms a certain structure. And, despite the fact that you can find the same mineral in different shapes and colors, it will still show the same properties when tested. In contrast, stones can be composed of a combination of minerals and do not have a crystal lattice. It is not always easy to distinguish them, however, if the experiment gives different results from different sides of the object, then the object is most likely a stone.

• You can try to determine what kind of stone it is, or at least determine which of the three types of rock it belongs to.

1. Learn to navigate the classification of minerals. Thousands of minerals have found a place on our planet, but many of them are rare or lie too deep underground. Sometimes a couple of experiments are enough, and you are left in no doubt that this is one of the common minerals from the list in the next section. If your mineral does not fit any of the above descriptions, try consulting your region's mineral classifier. If you have done a lot of experiments, but have not been able to reduce the number of options to two or three, look on the Internet. Look at the photos of each mineral that looks like yours and look for all the possible tips on how to distinguish these minerals.

   • It is better to include at least one test that requires exposure to the mineral, such as a hardness test or a stroke test. Experiences that involve only viewing and describing may turn out to be biased, since different people describe the same minerals in different ways.

2. Study the shape and surface of the mineral. The set of forms of each mineral and the characteristic features of a group of minerals is called the "general form". To describe these characteristics, geologists have a variety of technical terms, but usually a general description is sufficient. For example, is your mineral bumpy, rough, or smooth? What is it: a mixture of rectangular crystals, or is your specimen bristling with sharp crystal peaks?

   Take a closer look at how your mineral shines. Luster refers to the way a mineral reflects light, and although this is not a scientific test, it may be useful to describe. Most minerals have a "glassy" ("glossy") or metallic sheen. However, you can also describe gloss as "thick", "pearl" (whitish sheen), "matte" (dull, like unglazed ceramic), or any other definition you feel is accurate.

   Pay attention to the color of the mineral. Most people do not see any difficulty in this, but, meanwhile, this experience may be useless. Small foreign inclusions can cause a change in color, which is why you can find the same mineral in different colors. However, if the mineral has an unusual color, say purple, this can narrow your search considerably.

   • When describing minerals, avoid fancy color names like "salmon" or "puce". Try to get by with just red, black and green.

3. Experiment with a stroke. This is a useful and easy test, as long as you have a piece of white unglazed porcelain. The reverse side of the tiles from the bathroom or kitchen is perfect; maybe you can buy something suitable at the repair supply store. Having become the owner of the coveted piece of porcelain, just rub the mineral on the tile and see what color stroke it leaves. Often the color of the stroke will differ from the base color of the mineral.

   • Glaze gives porcelain and other types of ceramics a glassy (glossy) sheen.
   • Be aware that some minerals do not leave a streak, especially hard minerals (as they are harder than a streak plate).

4. Assess the hardness of the material. To quickly determine the hardness of a material, geologists use the Mohs hardness scale, named after its creator. If the result fits the hardness factor "4", but does not reach "5", then the coefficient of your mineral is between "4" and "5", you can stop the experiment. Try scratching your mineral using the common items listed below (or the minerals from the hardness test kit); start at the bottom and, if the test is positive, move up the scale to the top:

   • 1 -- Easy to scratch with fingernail, feel oily and soft (corresponds to stearite notch)
   • 2 -- Can be scratched with a fingernail (gypsum)
   • 3 -- Can be easily cut with a knife or nail, scratched with a coin (calcite, calcareous)
   • 4 -- Easy to scratch with a knife (fluorspar)
   • 5 -- Difficult to scratch with a knife, can be scratched with a piece of glass (apatite)
   • 6-- Can be scratched with a file, he, with effort, can scratch glass (orthoclase)
   • 7-- Can scratch file steel, easily scratches glass (quartz)
   • 8 -- Scratches quartz (topaz)
   • 9 -- Scratches almost anything, cuts glass (corundum)
   • 10 -- Scratches or cuts almost anything (diamond)

5. Break the mineral and study what pieces it breaks into. Due to the fact that each mineral has a certain structure, then it must break up into parts in a certain way. If you observe more flat surfaces in faults of the same rock, then we are dealing with cleave. If there are no flat surfaces, but continuous chaotic bends and bulges are observed, then a fracture is present in the mineral.

   • The cleavage is described in more detail by the number of planes produced by the fracture (usually one to four); also takes into account the concept perfect(smooth) or imperfect(rough) surface.
   • Breaks are of several types. They are described as splintery ( fibrous), sharp and serrated ( hooked), bowl-shaped ( shelly, cochlear) or none of the above ( uneven).

6. If you still have not identified your mineral, you can conduct additional experiments. There are many other tests available to geologists for classifying minerals. However, many are simply not useful for identifying the most common species, many requiring special equipment or hazardous materials. Here is a summary of a few experiences that may be necessary:

   If the mineral comes off in layers during friction, it is probably mica. This mineral is easy to identify, because if you scratch it with a fingernail or even just a finger, it delaminates into thin plates. Potassium” (or white) mica pale brown or colorless, while magnesian” (or black) mica is dark brown or black, with gray-brown streaks.

   Now let's understand the difference between gold and "cat" gold. Pyrite, also known as "cat" gold, also looks like a shiny yellow metal, but a couple of experiments are enough to make the difference obvious. Pyrite has a hardness factor of up to and sometimes exceeds 6, while gold is much softer, ranging between 2 and 3. It leaves a greenish-black streak and can crumble under sufficient pressure.

The natural desire to possess beautiful jewelry makes many buyers easy prey for all sorts of scammers. And in this case, the coveted diamonds in earrings bought in a jewelry store turn out to be nothing more than cheap cubic zirkonia, and an amber necklace turns into a plastic fake. Be a vigilant buyer and don't let yourself be fooled. To buy jewelry with natural stone, it is not at all necessary to invite a venerable specialist. Our tips will help you make a successful purchase.

Amethyst

Synthetic amethyst is one of the imitations of natural amethyst, and it is very difficult to recognize a fake, since the physicochemical properties of artificial and natural minerals are very similar. Such synthetic analogues are now produced on an industrial scale and are used very often in jewelry. Even more often you can find colored cubic zirkonia, which can be detected by a very simple method. Put the stone on your cheek: natural amethysts do not conduct heat well, which means they will remain cool for a long time. Large stones are best checked in a gemological laboratory.

Aquamarine

Aquamarines are very easy to confuse with natural topaz, as both minerals have the same hue and structural inclusions and defects present in all natural stones. One of the methods for diagnosing aquamarines can be the so-called "chrysanthemums" in the structure of the stone (visible white inclusions), which topaz cannot have. Artificial spinel, ordinary glass and synthetic quartz, which have individual physical and chemical properties, can serve as imitations of aquamarine. For example, these fakes do not produce the changeable color that aquamarine is famous for. If you turn it at different angles, you can observe a change in at least two, or even three shades: bluish, blue, green and their variations.

Turquoise

Turquoise is one of the leaders in terms of the number of types of fakes. They can be either ordinary plastic or glass, which are quite easy to recognize upon close inspection, since they do not have the special porous surface of turquoise. In addition, a glass fake impersonates the presence of microscopic air bubbles, which are not found in natural turquoise. As for more skillful fakes, here it is necessary to mention low-quality samples of turquoise, which are ennobled by laboratory methods and presented as first-class minerals. Heat treatment, the application of special strengthening compounds, gluing turquoise chips and many other methods are involved. When gluing defective pieces of turquoise, it is likely that the stone will soon crumble into pieces and you will have to stock up with Moment glue.

Heliodor

The most valuable samples of this mineral are lemon-colored heliodors with a high degree of transparency, so immediately refuse to buy if you are offered not very clean and even cloudy stones. When buying, it will not be superfluous to have a glass with you in order to run a heliodor over it. The stone should scratch the glass surface, because its hardness is quite high - 7.5 on the Moss scale. Another distinguishing feature of natural heliodor is its yellow glow in the short wavelength range.

Rhinestone

It should be understood that rock crystal is not at all the same as the substance from which "crystal" glasses worth two hundred rubles are made. In fact, this is just a mixture of quartz, soda and lime, but quite good fakes of rock crystal are obtained from it. Sometimes ordinary glass is sold under the guise of this beautiful mineral, but it is not difficult to recognize a natural stone. Take a closer look at the structure of the mineral - even without a magnifying glass, you can see a light haze in it, which resembles frozen ice. Glass is transparent and not as cool as rock crystal, which remains cold even in the strongest heat.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate is not often faked. Firstly, the price of this beautiful mineral is quite democratic, and secondly, garnets have a number of specific features that are unique to them. These stones have a slight magnetism, so when buying, you should arm yourself with a magnet and a cork, which is needed to neutralize the magnetic field of the metal scales where you put the pomegranate. So, the pomegranate is placed on the cork, and the cork is placed on the scales. Then a magnet is carefully brought to the stone, and at a distance of ten millimeters, the grenades will begin to manifest their magnetic nature through the vibration of the arrows of the scales.

Moon rock

For a moonstone, you can easily take frosted glass or plastic, which is painted using a special technology in order to obtain a non-uniform color. Outwardly, such a glass fake is very similar to a moonstone, but there is no play of light and a myriad of multi-colored reflections in it when the mineral is brought to a light source. Moreover, these reflections are reflected each time in a new way, and in the glass the sparkles seem to be frozen in a vacuum. The same applies to white chalcedony and synthetic spinel, thermally processed to give them the specific luster of moonstone. Only X-ray irradiation of the mineral will help here, which will reveal the white-violet glow characteristic of the moonstone. You can also try to see the moonstone in a tenfold magnifying glass, through which you can see the multi-stage structure and layering characteristic of feldspar.

Topaz

There are quite a few methods for recognizing natural topaz. One of them is a simple tactile analysis: if, upon touching the stone, you feel a slippery and cold surface, it is most likely a topaz in front of you. You can also use a woolen cloth to check the authenticity of the mineral: if you rub topaz well with it, it will accumulate electricity in itself and attract the smallest objects, for example, hairs, a piece of napkin and other light debris. If possible, dip the stone in methylene iodide - real topaz will sink in this liquid, and fakes, such as quartz, will remain floating on the surface. Not only the stone itself can be faked, but also its quality parameters. Many jewelry topazs are characterized by color refinement by heat treatment. Revealing traces of ennoblement is possible only in the gemological laboratory. Golden topazes or Madeira topazes are also born, which are something other than amethysts heated to the right temperature.

Chrysolite

This bright green stone is often counterfeited with stained glass, making it difficult for the inexperienced buyer to tell the fake from the original. But this is very simple - in most cases, the glass fake is dyed unevenly and thickening and gaps can be observed in various areas of the glass. In the case of natural chrysolite, you will not see such metamorphoses: the stone has the same color and intensity throughout its structure. It happens that they try to pass off olive-green plastic beads as chrysolite (they can be easily scratched and even spoiled with an ordinary knife), as well as green tourmaline or chrysoberyl, which are difficult to distinguish even for an experienced jeweler. It is possible to recognize a fake only in laboratory conditions on special equipment.

Lapis lazuli

Anyone who has ever seen a mineral of natural lapis lazuli is unlikely to ever confuse this stone with something similar (lazulite, azurite, sodalite, dumortierite). The fact is that the shade of this amazing stone is unusually blue, you can say it "hurts the eye" with its blue. Fakes, on the other hand, cannot recreate such a rich blue tint, they are paler and more boring than the original. If you have never dealt with lapis lazuli, check the stone in the following way: put it in a glass of water and shake it. Counterfeits, such as jasper dyed with Prussian blue or synthetic spinel dyed with cobalt oxide, will immediately turn the water blue or blue, and natural lapis lazuli will leave clear water behind. There is another way to recognize lapis lazuli - the dissolution of a natural mineral in hydrochloric acid - but it can hardly be considered a diagnostic sign.

Citrine

Natural citrine is a beautiful bright yellow stone often used in jewelry. However, when purchasing a ring or earrings with citrines, make sure that you are not selling burnt amethyst or refined quartz, the cost of which is much lower, namely, natural citrine. It can be distinguished by a less saturated yellow color, which in ennobled amethyst or quartz is hauntingly yellow and even with an orange-red tint. Natural citrine can have several colors (amber, pale yellow, etc.), but they are all kept in a calm tone. The dichroism effect of natural citrines can serve as a diagnostic sign: at different angles of view, the color of the mineral changes from pale yellow to rich lemon. Fakes do not have such an effect and have the same and uniform color, regardless of the angle of view.