Beware of Fake Stones

6th of March, 2015

Exposing The Truth

MINERALES INVENTADOS (fake minerals)

It is an unfortunate occurance, but some unscrupulus retailers and even honest ones who simply do not know their stones well enough; are selling Fake, Dyed and Manufactured Composite stones as the "Genuine Article".

Online auctions tend to be the worst. Of course if they are labelled correctly so you the customer is informed as to what you are buying, then you are an informed purchaser and this is perfectly acceptable.

There is no authority in New Zealand that governs what stones are sold as, other than the consumers guarantee act. This act enforces that if you are sold "Fake" stones as "Genuine" stones, then you are entitled to a refund. However you have to know they are "Fake" The following are examples of some of the Fake stones being sold in New Zealand.

Fake Geodes

These have started to turn up. I first saw them in the USA and now some unsrupulous person is supplying them to NZ retailers. Be very aware they are FAKE!!! They come from Morocco where they take Rhyolite Geodes (usually of very low quality) and GLUE crushed Galena ore on the inside. Unbelievable!

 

Fake Dyed Chertreuse Serpentine

This is dyed in China and sold as Sugilite.

 

 

On the left is the fake dyed Certreuse Serpentine, on the right is the natural Chartreuse Serpentine.

 Fake Turquoise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is natural howlite, sometimes sold incorrectly as Turquoise.
On the left is the Howlite, dyed to look like Turquoise. On the right is the natural Howlite.

More Fake Turquoise

 

 

 

 

Even worse is this Poly-Resin Plastic composite, passed off as Turquoise. You will see this for sale on internet auction sites as 'genuine' Turquoise. The only thing genuine about it is the genuine plastic content!

More Fakes to Watch Our For!

Fake Blue Moonstone

This "stone" is sold all around New Zealand as "Opal", "Opalite", "Blue Moonstone", and probably by other names. It is simply glass. Nice, but still just glass.

This is known in the trade as "Opal Glass".

 

 

 

Green Manufactured Quartz

This item has been for sale around New Zealand as natural "Green Quartz". It is made by superheating Quartz with the mineral Chromium so that it fuses to the surface of the crystals.

 

 

 

Fake Cherry Quartz

Sold as "Strawberry Quartz" or "Cherry Quartz", this Glass is Made in China. I have seen this sold on New Zealand internet auction sites as "made from smelted Quartz adding copper for colour". This description is simply a fancy way of describing the manufacture of glass.

To make glass you take Quartz Sand, smelt (or in laymans terms, melt it) and add other minerals to colour it! e.g. copper.

 

The Azeztulite Conspiracy

Azeztulite - Now this stone is causing alot of emotions to flare between the Metaphysical dealers and the mineral dealers. It is Milk Quartz that has been named Azeztulite. It is sold by Metaphysical dealers for about NZ $10+ per carat, that's an unbelievable, in fact outrageous price for milk quartz! So why the high price? Here's the story....

The Azez are a race of Alien beings that channelled information about crystals they imprinted with special spiritual energy for those searching for universal love and light. The unfortunate side of the legend is that the Aliens said they would only be available from one company, that then trade marked the name Azeztulite. This company is American, so if your Moroccan or Vietnamese or any other nationality looking for Universal Love and Light Crystal Energy and do not speak English, hard luck. The Aliens have only made these crystals available in America.

This picture of a 42 gram chunk of "Azeztulite" aka "Milk Quartz", was advertised on a website for $45.00! If it was sold as milk quartz it would be worth $1 to $2.