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Gem and Mineral Fakes, Forgeries, Misrepresentations, and ScamsThe contents of this page including pictures appear originally at www.the-vug.com and are used here with expressed permission from the-vug.com. It is mirrored here to help the lapidary novice avoid common collecting pitfalls and scams and to help promote all the honest members of the lapidary community. This page is a list of scams, fakes, forgeries and misrepresentations that appear in the mineral collecting market. Some are old and are some are new. Many of these fakes are quite pretty and are collectable because of their aesthetics. In general, however, they are of low value and usually should not be included as part of a "serious" mineral collection. To learn more about specific minerals, including their colors, crystal habits, etc., explore Mindat and WebMineral. To find reliable dealers and late breaking news visit www.the-vug.com or their Fake Minerals Blog |
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Arkansas Diamond: Arkansas is known for something very unique. The ONLY public access diamond mine in the entire world. For a small fee, anyone can go to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro Arkansas and search for diamonds in the giant open dirt field. Diamonds from Arkansas are also special because of a very important fact. They are worth some SERIOUS dollars! A man figured out he could make some money by purchasing diamonds from India then take them into the park and “find” them. | |
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Aluminum and Magnesium: Some dealers are selling specimens they claim to be natural aluminum or natural magnesium, taken from a mine. Beware! Aluminum and magnesium are too reactive to survive in their native, metallic state for more than a few years. These "specimens" are probably just raw aluminum or magnesium from a refining plant. | |
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Aqua Aura: Mineral specimens of various types but most commonly quartz crystals, can be treated in a laboratory so they become bluish or iridescent on their surfaces. This is done by vapor deposition of a very thin layer of metal, usually gold. (Some claim to use titanium or indium.) The resultant material is most frequently called "aqua aura." | |
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Azeztulite: This is one of the simplest scams out there. Azeztulite is just plain old, ordinary, common quartz. Scraps of quartz, often milky, dull, and broken, are proclaimed (often by the metaphysical crowd) to have some special properties. | |
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Bismuth: Iridescent bismuth crystals have become quite popular because of their fascinating hoppered crystal structure. The locality for these bismuth "specimens" is frequently listed as Belgium or Germany. These crystals are made in a laboratory, by allowing super cooled liquid bismuth to crystallize. Bismuth does occur in nature, but usually as dull gray amorphous ("without crystal structure") lumps and often accompanied by yellow or green oxidation products. | |
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Carborundum: This spiky, iridescent material is not natural. Most specimens are man-made silicon carbide, manufactured for use as an abrasive, or when gemmy, as a diamond stimulant. It occurs naturally in meteorites, where it is called moissanite. The localities for these "specimens" may be Mexico, Schenectady (New York) or others. | |
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Cermikite: This is not a natural mineral, but instead is probably laboratory-grown chrome alum (aluminum chromium sulfate) or regular, colorless alum which has been crystallized in the presence of a dye. Other laboratory grown specimens of different colors have also been called cermikite. Usually ascribed to Poland or Romania. Not a common fake. | |
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Chalcanthite: Striking, deep blue crystals of "chalcanthite" (copper sulfate) have been a popular scam on ebay in the past year or two. While chalcanthite does occur in nature (picture at left), it is usually as a blue massive or crusty material. Well-formed crystals of more than a few millimeters are exceptionally rare. On the other hand, it is quite easy to grow these "chalcanthite" specimens in a lab (picture at right). and are ascribed to localities in Brazil, China or Poland. Avoid dealers who cannot or will not provide more details. |
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Baked Citrine: It is common to see these clusters and geodes available for sale in gift shops and online the world over. But be aware, these are not true Citrine crystals. True Citrine is mostly a lemon color, very light in appearance. Even the most richly colored Citrine crystals are not anywhere near the color of these baked Amethyst clusters. Our advice...stay away from any dealers that A) Don't know this and B) Don't option to share this information with you. There is so much Amethyst in Brazil that they needed to come up with additional marketing tools to help sell the B grade material. One day someone figured out that if you take an Amethyst cluster and stick it in a kiln to bake, it will turn a reddish/orange color. |
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Fluorite Octahedron: Natural, octahedral (eight-sided) crystals of fluorite occur widely in nature, but rarely without some point of contact with a host or matrix rock. With a bit of practice, one can cleave or break fluorite (usually massive or poorly crystallized material) along the octahedral cleavage planes to produce a sharp, flawless octahedron. These can be easily recognized because they lack any evidence of previous attachment to matrix, as well as exceptionally sharp edges where crystal faces meet. | |
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Galena Geodes from Morocco: These things are hideous. Galena crystals and cleavages stuck inside a hollow geode. Why is it that you only see these things being resold by Metaphysical dealers? Also common are fakes from Morocco where the geode is in reality a pottery with pieces of wood inside the geode that are then covered in galena crystals. |
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Hollow Galena Crystals: From Bulgaria, they appeared first at the Denver Mineral show in 2009. Suspicions about their being created by microabrassion ended up proving true when specimens were observed under a scanning electron microscope showed remnants of the abrasive material on surface. Not all hollow Galena are fake, but this proves some are. |
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Green Quartz: Green quartz can be produced in the lab by a modification of the process used to manufacture large, high-quality quartz crystals for electronics applications. The process involves heating the quartz with water under high pressure. This causes the quartz to recrystallize. If other substances are present these might be included into the new crystals. For example inclusion of chromium can result in deep green quartz. So, existing quartz clusters (often with damaged crystals tips because these clusters are essentially worthless) are heated with water under high pressure, producing clusters with new deep green tips. These tips have a characteristic etched or stepped growth pattern. The material is lab-grown and not produced in any mine, despite what some dealers might want you to believe. | |
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Helidor "from Tajikistan": Helidor is the gemmy yellow variety of beryl. The pleasing yellow color can occur naturally, but it can also be produced by heat treatment of blue beryl (aquamarine). In order to mask the origin of helidor produced by heat treatment, some suppliers have created confusion concerning the origin of this mineral. (The confusion may also exist to hide the mine from would-be thieves, or to cover the activities of the the thieves themselves.) Much of the suspect beryl is labeled as coming from Tajikistan, although this locality is suspect. However, what would be the point of turning a beautiful blue aquamarine from Pakistan into a yellow beryl? | |
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Hemimorphite (Dyed Aragonite): Hemimorphite has been around the mineral world for ages, occurring in a range of colors from colorless, white, green, blue and grey. Sometimes it has inclusions that give it more colors, like the limonite included ones from Mexico that have brownish/red lines running across the blades. China has a few mines have been producing some very nice hemimorphite that is suitable for cutting, cabing or just adding to your collection. Massive slabs of colorless or grey aragonite are common from China and when dyed blue it can look somewhat like hemimorphite. The dyed aragonite has a smoother look to it than natural blue hemimorphite. It can be identified by placing a drop of common pool acid (muriatic or hydrochloric acid) on the questioned material. If it starts bubbling like crazy then you have a great chunk of dyed aragonite! |
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Malachite Pseudomorph after Glauberite: Camp Verde produces a ton of glauberite crystals replaced by calcite. If you go to the location you can leave with a bucket full of these crystals. If you place these crystals into a bucket of copper sulfate solution in water (the same stuff used to make fake chalcanthite) you get these really cool looking green glauberite crystals that look like malachite pseudomorphs after glauberite! | |
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Myanmar vs. Vietnam: Due to US import embargoes on gems and minerals from Myanmar (Burma), some specimens from Myanmar are attributed to Vietnamese localities. Some of the minerals in question are tourmaline, pargasite (at right), ruby and spinel (at left). However, some of these specimens really do come from Vietnam. Be cautious when purchasing, especially from a dealer you do not know very well. The specimens shown are ascribed to Vietnam but are probably from Myanmar instead. |
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Nickel Crystals: Electrodeposition of nickel (electroplating) is a common enhancement for jewelry and other items. Correct electrodeposition gives a smooth metallic finish with no discernable crystals. However, nickel crystals can form on the wires used in the electrodeposition process. (The pictures show an example) The wires are called electrodes, and they are usually copper. In some cases these nickel-covered copper wires have been sold as "natural nickel crystals." These fakes are easy to spot. Natural nickel crystals are exceptionally rare (usually found only in meteorites), and when they do occur, they are very small (a 1 mm natural nickel crystal is considered large). | |
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Brightly colored Obsidian: Obsidian has always been one of the mainstays of the mineral community, with countless Obsidian arrowheads, "apache tears" and other Obsidian items finding their way into the hands of kids around North America each summer. Obsidian comes in black, brown, gray and several combinations such as white and black "Snowflake" obsidian and brown and black "Mahogany" obsidian. What it DOES NOT come in is brightly colored Reds, Blues, Greens and the like sold by metaphysical dealers and scam artisits. I can assure that most all colored obsidians are actually slag glass |
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Pentagonite vs. Cavansite: Cavansite is a popular mineral due to its striking blue color, usually on a white heulandite or stilbite matrix. Pentagonite (picture right) is a significantly rarer polymorph of cavansite. They are very similar in both color and crystal shape but pentagonite crystals are generally more needle-like than cavansite crystals. Pentagonite gets its name from its common habit of forming twinned crystals consisting of five needles radiating from the same spot. Because cavansite and pentagonite may not be easily distinguished, the "pentagonite" specimens sold by some dealers are really just cavansite. |
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Radiated Smoky Quartz: Quartz can come in all sorts of colors and forms, all caused by conditions present during the growth of the pocket. Quartz is often found as dark "Smoky" colored crystals, due to radiation from the radioactive materials present in the area. However, you can also take a clear Quartz crystal and turn it into a black crystal by submitting it to a dose of radioactivity. It is common for large amounts of Arkansas Quartz and Chinese material treated in this way each year. While it does look quite pretty, more and more locations of Smoky Quartz have been discovered and the supply of natural Smoky Quartz is enough to drive interest away from this type of material. We suggest buying natural Quartz and staying away from these specimens. In addition, please be aware that all those "Cavic" Romania Quartz crystals are also all radiated. The color will disappear after exposure to sunlight for a prolonged time. | |
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Saffron Okenite: This began appearing early in 2005. Some dealers claim it's from India and others from China, but all refuse to name a specific locality. The tufts of saffron yellow okenite needles against a white matrix were selling at thousand dollars each. These are fakes of the first order, made in a laboratory by applying a yellow dye to common Indian okenite specimens. With very rare exception, natural okenite is usually very white. Don't be fooled by this obvious scam! |
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Silver: At least one online auction dealer site is selling silver "nuggets" (at right) that come "from deep within the mine" and are ".999 pure silver." When asked for specifics about the mine we are told only it's in Nevada. Natural silver (at left) is an alloy containing traces (or more) of other metals such as platinum, gold and copper. It also usually has a minor to deep gray or black tarnish. Naturally bright, shiny silver should be suspect as having been cleaned or being a fake. Also, natural silver of 0.999 ("three nines") purity is unbelievable. These "silver nuggets" appear to be little more than melted silver (with air bubbles visible in some cases, and sometimes cast over bits of quartz to add the their "authenticity") or just soldering metal. Pretty for what they are, perhaps, but worthless as mineral specimens. |
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Turquoise: At least one dealer is selling large, 2-6 pounds or more, of fake (at right) turquoise nuggets. They appear to be constructed by placing a mixture of high-quality powdered turquoise and epoxy glue around what may be a rock or lead core. Check the density or specific gravity of suspect turquoise nuggets to be sure, especially if the price seems too good. These fakes have appeared on some online auction sites with some Chinese dealers, and may also be occurring elsewhere. The locality in some cases is claimed to be Labashan Mine, Zhushan, Hubei Province, China. |
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White Moldavite: Metaphysical sellers on eBay come up with some really funny listings and names for minerals. This so-called "white moldavite" or "Elestial Calcite" in some cases is actually just calcite. It is in fact a calcite cleavage that has been soaked in a dilute hydrdchloric acid to bring out a soft shine to the lump of otherwise worthless calcite. In one case it was labeled as a penetration twin |
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Zincite: Natural zincite usually occurs a reddish, massive material. However, in recent years, sharply-crystallized, very gemmy, glassy zincite in a variety of shades of green (at right), yellow, brown, orange and red (at left) has been offered, often as gem rough. This material is produced as a by-product of zinc smelting operations, principally in Poland. Pretty enough for what it is, but not natural! |
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Zircon:
Some Chinese sellers are producing
these lab grown zircon crystals as natural crystals. A
quick scan over eBay in July 2005 shows no less than six
different colors available for sale. Many have a sandy
matrix that matches the color of the crystal. Like big
chunks of "fakite," these lab-grown zircons are only
worth it for the fake cutting rough and if you like big
fake looking crystals!
Natural zircons are much smaller and from most locations are not gemmy at all, but rather blocky and crude. The pictures show Zircon grown in a laboratory. Note the unusual colors and lack of crystal faces. |
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If you know of a scam, fake, forgery or misrepresentation
that is not on this list, please
send
it to The Vug so that it can be included, and so other collectors can learn
from your experiences.