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Real talk.

How to Tell, if a Crystal, is Real?

NaturalTreatedImitation

How to tell if a crystal is real starts with a 10x loupe and good daylight: most fakes fail a ten-second look, and the rest give themselves away through color, price and labels. This page covers the three kinds of crystal you will meet and the checks that sort them.

Read on.

Real or fake crystal guides

Real or fake crystal guides, one per mineral that gets faked most.

Real vs Fake CitrineMost citrine is heat treated amethyst. How to tell it from rare natural citrine, and from glass.Mohs 7How to Tell if Amethyst is Real?Color zoning, inclusions and the bubble test: how real amethyst differs from glass, dye and lab stones.Mohs 7Fake Tumbled Smoky QuartzWhy so much black tumbled smoky quartz is irradiated clear quartz or glass, and how to spot it.Mohs 7

Real vs fake crystals

Real vs fake crystals sort into three groups, not two. A natural crystal grew in the ground and kept the color it grew with. A treated crystal is a real mineral whose color was changed by heat, radiation, dye or a metal coating: heated citrine, irradiated smoky quartz and aura quartz all belong here, and none of them is fake as long as the label says so. An imitation is a different material made to look like a mineral, such as glass, plastic, resin, or howlite dyed to pass as turquoise.

How to spot fake crystals

How to spot fake crystals is a short checklist, and you can run it in a minute:

  • Bubbles: round gas bubbles and curved swirl lines mean glass. Natural crystals show flat, angular or wispy inclusions instead.
  • Seams: a raised line around a point or bead, or a shape too perfect to have grown, points to a mold.
  • Feel: plastic and resin feel light and warm. Glass and quartz both feel cool, so touch alone proves little.
  • Color: neon shades and dye pooled in cracks mean a dyed stone. Natural color is usually uneven.
  • Price: a big, flawless crystal priced like a souvenir is rarely what its label says.
  • Label: a real specimen label names the mineral and the locality, and an honest seller names any treatment.

Dyed, synthetic and lab grown crystals

Dyed, synthetic and lab grown crystals start most real or fake arguments. Dyed crystals are real stones with fake color: bright blue or pink agate slices, howlite dyed to look like turquoise, and crackled quartz soaked in dye. Synthetic or lab grown crystals have the same chemistry and structure as the natural mineral but grew in a factory. Quartz is grown by the ton this way for electronics, as Wikipedia's quartz article explains. Lab grown is not fake, but it has to be sold as lab grown.

Three of the most faked stones in crystal shops get their own guides: real vs fake citrine, how to tell if amethyst is real and fake smoky quartz.

How geoslut labels real crystals

geoslut labels real crystals the way a museum does, with the mineral name and the locality on every piece. Each piece is one of one, and the photo shows that exact piece, shot in daylight, so what you see is what ships. More on where pieces come from is on sourcing and ethics.

How to Tell if a Crystal is Real FAQ

What crystals are commonly faked?

The crystals most commonly faked are citrine (usually heated amethyst), turquoise (often dyed howlite), smoky quartz (often irradiated clear quartz), opal and moldavite. Glass copies of almost anything turn up in cheap jewelry.

How do you check if a crystal is real at home?

To check if a crystal is real at home, look at it under a 10x loupe in daylight for bubbles, mold seams and dye in the cracks. Then compare its weight, color and price with what the label claims.

Is lab grown quartz fake?

Lab grown quartz is not fake: it has the same chemistry and hardness as natural quartz, but it grew in a factory instead of the ground. It should always be labeled lab grown or synthetic.

Sources