I’m sure some of you, if you’re familiar with me and my business, will know I have a little collection of just… bad fakes. Some of the inventive things created to make a fake mineral or gemstone – half the time of a material so cheap it couldn’t possibly be worth faking.
Some of these fakes are a very low quality, low tech approach. One of my favourites was the absolute eye-melting monstrosity of these ‘Rutile in Quartz’ fakes, which were resin and tinsel.
Now, I’ve spotted another fake form of Rutile in Quartz, but this one is way more advanced and way more interesting.
This came, as all terrible things do, from my favourite four letter auction site, where it was described as ‘Marvelous Lustrous Rutilated Quartz Cluster From Pakistan’. The seller had 1198 feedback and a score of 96.1%, shipping from SONIPAT, HARYANA, India.
Pakistan does have some interesting included minerals, including Quartz with Rutile, Aegerine, and a few interestingly blue-green coloured Amphiboles.
This wasn’t one. I thought it was glitter in resin from the picture, but a nicer specimen – a fine accompaniment to my tinsel in resin eyesores.
When it arrived, it was pretty obvious immediately that it wasn’t resin. It was hard and cold, and purely from feel was either glass or Quartz – later testing revealed it to be glass.
Chucking it under the USB scope, I got some interesting photos.
For reference, the first image is the listing image which I have ‘borrowed’ to illustrate this fine specimen.
I was honestly just expecting glitter in resin, a great combination of microplastics.
In my experience though, glitter is almost always hexagonal under the microscope, and these pieces reminded me of something else – the Copper/cobalt/manganese flecks seen under a microscope when viewing the synthetic Goldstone glass.
Only thing was, I’ve never seen a transparent piece of goldstone glass – and couldn’t find one online either. Has anyone ever seen a transparent Goldstone / aventurine glass, or is this possibly a new creation?
Pictured below are some photos of the synthetic Goldstone glass with its common blue or red-brown matrix. Green Goldstone also exists but is a little less common.
Have you seen a clear one before? Leave a comment!
Wow, that’s a lot of trouble cutting a piece of glass. Goldstone varies in quality and can be ‘thinned down’ with clear glass to draw it out to give the finer less dense look.
Glass workers (like me) take chunks of goldstone and often encase with clear to be able to use it without burning the copper flakes. So yes, it can be ‘diluted’.
Thank you, I don’t think I’ve seen any outside of the blue/red/green but I haven’t been looking on glass websites, so… worth a peek!
The postage to the UK was about £1.20 while the item price was £2.20, so there’s not exactly a huge profit in there anywhere.
I’m afraid these fake certificate scams get even Worse than bad “Gems”. As Mr Albion said, the websites look quite professional. However, when You try and “track a certified gem, You will be asked to enter Your full name, e-mail and phone number to “track” the gem stone. In collecting Your name ,number &’email Addy, these scamming “gem certification” websites are stealing people’s Identities!!.
All a Hacker needs is Your email & phone number to access Your Facebook, WhatsApp etc on Your mobile/cell phone.. then, their IN Your stored personal information!
These “certificate” Scammers, Will be working with the “gem” sellers, on eBay etc, meaning they also,very likely have Your home address.
Your name, email, phone number, are All it takes for an average Hacker to steal Your identity. Add in Your home address,and these Scammers have All they need to sell Your information on the dark net. I’m almost certain that’s how these eBay gem sellers can afford to cut and polish whatever fake gems their selling.
The Real “business” is not the Gems..it’s people’s Identities and real financial savings, credit etc, that is funding these eBay gem sellers
Most of these Sellers work together, and are located in India. Unfortunately, India is known for their very adept Hacker’s & elaborate scams..this “cheap gem market” is the gateway to their Real money making prize-: Identity theft!!!
Always use a VPN, a Great anti virus & Scam/Phishing web page blocker, on Your mobile devices, as well as any home computer’s, laptops etc etc. Even then, if You insert Your Name, email & phone details into these scam “gem certification” pages, Hacker’s can Still get through most firewalls/anti virus tech.
I have no idea why people are not being warned about these huge £$€¥ making “gem” scams. I bought my first loose “gem” 2 week’s ago and My what’s app & Facebook have already been hacked!!! And I’m Fairly tech savvy!¡ I feel awful for all the poor Folk that have little, to no, tech experience!!!.
I’ll be changing my number, factory resetting my phone, and making a new email very soon. I’ve already informed My bank etc- This is the only option open to You, if You’ve been hacked- You’ll lose photos, files, music, apps etc… But, it’s All You can do to keep your identity safe (again!) I just wanted to get this “gem scam” information out there before I take these actions!
Best Wishes & kindest Regards to You all
ahh!! what do you mean! such fine gemstone specimen! I recently was lucky enough to acquire one of these prized pieces for my own growing collection of fine BS!✨🤣👌