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Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

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Page 1: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Mineral Fakes

What to look for &What to do when you find

one

Page 2: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

What constitutes a Mineral Fake?

• The specimen is not the handiwork of Mother Nature

• The crystals did not grow naturally• The crystals were glued into place• The crystals were dyed, irradiated, coated, etc.• I personally believe that modern specimens

matched up with old labels are fakes too.

Page 3: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Why would someone make a fake specimen?

• Enhance the perceived value of a rock• A way to use nice crystals and pass them off as

exceptional specimens• A way to essentially steal from unsuspecting

buyers • Personal reasons…

Page 4: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Some distinctions need to be made

• Repaired specimens are not fakes• Restored specimens are not fakes

• As long as the Repair and/or restoration replicate the original specimen.

• As long as that information is noted on the specimen label

Page 5: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

How do you know you’ve been had?

This thing looks perfect! Man, I am going to buy it!

Wow! What a great deal I got!I can’t wait to get a better look at this

when I get home under my microscope!Ah Crap!

Page 6: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

The first thing to realize is that we all buy and likely have bogus minerals in our collections. The best dealers in the world have a drawer full of them, including me, and all museums have them too.

They are EVERYWHERE!

Page 7: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Your Most Valuable Tools for Fake Specimen Indentification

HandlensA Microscope

A UV light sourceExperience

Page 8: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Now for some examples

Page 9: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

“Heliodor” from Tajikistan

Aquamarine that gets nuked goes yellow

Page 10: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Wulfenite from Tsumeb

Page 11: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Hard not to see the glue and crushed matrix which was added in

Page 12: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Fluorapatite from Germany

Page 13: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Every single crystal was glued into place with a mix of glue and crushed matrix

Page 14: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Elbaite from Elba Island

Page 15: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Flakes of feldspar added to the glue. Under a scope it hurts to look at it.

Page 16: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Proustite from Peru

Page 17: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

The crystal is literally hanging by glue and little pieces of matrix…

Page 18: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Nice Cuprite from Mashamba

Page 19: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Except that the big crystal is glued into place…

Page 20: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Euclase from Zimbabwe

Page 21: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

I gotta clean that iron oxide out! Hmm..Nothing seems to get the FeOxide out!

Page 22: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Oh…It’s because it is all glue!

Page 23: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Exceptional epidote from Pakistan!

Page 24: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Except for one thing…

Page 25: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Gold from Arizona

Page 26: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Every piece of gold is a little piece of leaf gold glued to the matrix.

Page 27: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Why is the gold only on one surface?

Page 28: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Gold from Mexico

Page 29: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Nice crystal but what is all that shiny stuff around it? Hmmm…

Page 30: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Even the little spots of gold have been glued in place!

Page 31: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Helvite from Fujian, China

Page 32: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Oh… that is why it was so cheap…

Page 33: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Frankenstein rock from Korea

Page 34: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Looks pretty good from here. But why two different colors of fluorite?

Page 35: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Pale violet and pale green fluorite… Two colors of fluorite is only rarely seen in nature on the same rock

Page 36: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

And oh yeah, the scheelite was glued in too.

Page 37: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Manganite from GermanyLooks like an exceptionally fine rock

if you ask me!

Page 38: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

I sure do wish all the terminations were complete.

Page 39: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

More important, I wish that the crystals actually grew there instead of being glued there…

Page 40: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Fluorapatite from Austria!

Page 41: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

There’s even another crystal on this rock!

Page 42: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

I gotta get all that debris away from the crystal so it looks killer!

Page 43: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Except… All that debris is glued into place to look like matrix…

Page 44: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Gold from Russia…

Page 45: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

This specimen was cast and then soldered to some other gold bearing matrix. An atomic absorption test proved that the alloy was copper and silver with gold while the other visible gold was void of any copper.

Page 46: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

My gift to Scott Werschky

Page 47: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one
Page 48: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Pretty decent job if you ask me!

Page 49: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Ok – so now you have found your mineral fake. What’s next?

• Contact the dealer and let them know.• Be nice about it and keep in mind that most

dealers were likely been duped before you.• Every dealer worth his or her salt will gladly

refund you your original purchase price.• If there is a dispute go to a non-partisan 3rd party

to get a 2nd opinion.• The vast majority of the dealers out there are

honorable people and will stand by their name.

Page 50: Mineral Fakes What to look for & What to do when you find one

Any Questions?