Wondering if your crystal is real? Learn how to spot fake, man-made, dyed or treated crystals with real examples. This beginner-friendly guide helps you buy crystals with confidence…
Have You Unknowingly Bought Fake Crystals?
I’m writing this crystal buying guide because I’ve known many people who unknowingly bought fake or treated crystals. I completely understand why this is a very common concern people have when they are new to crystals or a crystal is ‘new’ to them.
PLEASE NOTE: I’m not here to FEAR-MONGER or create more PANIC content online that is making people overly paranoid about buying any crystal. I speak to so many people like this… After reading this blog post, I want you to be educated and able to make better informed choices when crystal shopping and buying crystals online.
Not all FAKE Crystals are the same…
The term “fake” is often misunderstood and misused in the crystal community. I’m not a fan of black and white thinking, nor am I a crystal puritan. It’s much more complex than that. Let me clarify the different types of crystals that could be perceived as fake so you understand what they are.
Please note some crystals will overlap more than one category.
MAN-MADE STONES
These are stones that are made from scratch by humans. They could use completely synthetic materials or natural materials. Most of these that you will come across are not trying to imitate a natural crystal but are their own thing.
Saying that, people could use these methods to create an imitation stone (covered later on). That’s what most antique and vintage ‘costume jewellery’ was and most modern fast fashion/clothes shop jewellery still is today.
I’ve seen people sell man made crystals like Opalite, as ‘natural’ or as other stones like Opal or Moonstone. Knowing what the common man made stones are is the key.
EXAMPLES: Goldstone, Opalite, Blue Sandstone/Goldstone, Cat’s Eye, Cherry Quartz
TREATED NATURAL CRYSTALS
Treating naturally growing crystals within the gemstone and jewellery industry isn’t new. You can buy antique jewellery or may have a family heirloom that was treated in some way. Common methods still used today include heat treating or oiling. This is usually done to bring out the colour, change the colour or hide flaws.
This can also be done to make a crystal appear to be another crystal. These treatments are very common for precious gemstones such as Rubies, Sapphires or Aquamarines. Iradiation with different rays is also used. Some dark Smoky quartz on the market is created this way.
A lot of the Turquoise mined today is so soft it can’t be carved without crumbling or breaking. To avoid wasting it, an epoxy resin is used to harden (stabilising/stabilizing) the stones for cutting.
EXAMPLES: Heat treated ‘Citrine’, Auro Verde, Lemon Quartz, Stabilised Turquoise
LOOKALIKES & IMPOSTER CRYSTALS
This is a true fake in the crystal industry, as it is always being sold as something that it is not. But it can also be innocently done as people misidentify and mislabel crystals. Or a seller buys from a supplier who sold it to them and they believed them. It happens. It’s common to have one or two of these in your collection.
There are literally thousands of minerals and many of them look similar. When something is rare, expensive or popular, fakes appear on the market. One of the easiest ways to fake is to sell a cheaper, plentiful and similar-looking stone under the same name. It’s sneaky and unless you are really familiar with the real thing, it’s hard to spot the difference.
EXAMPLES: Sodalite as Lapis Lazuli, Serpentine as Jade, Copal as Amber
IMITATION STONES
Imitation stones started in the gem industry and are also classified as ‘Man Made’. Here I’m talking about where the material is trying to imitate a natural stone. This can be innocent, to offer people jewellery that looks natural but without the price tag. But it can also fool people and be sold as the genuine article.
Be smart, if you see the word ‘Faux‘ mentioned anywhere near a crystal name (French for fake) it’s an imitation stone. Imitation stones often use cheap materials like glass, resin or even plastic. Some of these are quite obviously fake but even when done well, they will fail common tests to spot resin, etc.
MAN-MADE OBSIDIAN? Years ago, I spoke to an academic expert in obsidian who told me that ALL coloured obsidians (blue, green, pink…) on the market do not occur anywhere in nature and are man made glass. Although all glass can still be used energetically (it’s mostly melted Quartz), it’s only genuine ‘Obsidian’ if it’s naturally formed volcanic glass.
EXAMPLES: Resin/Glass Amber, Faux Aventurine, Glass/Resin Quartz, Resin/Glass Rose Quartz, Blue/Blue-green Obsidian, Glass Moldavite, Glass Rhinestones, Andara Crystals
DYED CRYSTALS
This is sometimes called ‘staining’ in the jewellery industry. Natural crystals can be soaked or partly treated with dye. This is done to increase the colour in lower quality stones, add more colours or completely change the colour of a different, pale or white stone for example. Dyed stones should be labelled as such.
These are usually pretty obvious in a crystal shop. Dyes typically add very bright and artificial colours. Not to mention when a stone isn’t normally that colour. The worst example of this is where a different stone is dyed and then sold as another.
EXAMPLES: Dyed Agate, Dyed blue howlite/magneseite ‘Turquoise’, Dyed Tiger’s Eye
LAB-GROWN CRYSTALS
These are crystals that are grown in a laboratory (or anywhere). Usually, a ‘seed crystal’ is used to start the process. This is similar to how people grow plants in a greenhouse. Lab grown crystals, like Quartz are used in technology, including the device you are using right now.
Lab grown gems are used in jewellery and help bring the price down and avoid overmining rare and precious gemstones, like Diamonds. They usually look too perfect as they lack flaws or inclusions. Even the lab grown quartz clusters that appeared on the market in the last few years don’t grow or look the same as natural clusters.
EXAMPLES: Siberian Quartz, Pink Lazurine, Lab Bismuth, Lab Tschermigite, Lab Cubic Zirconia
ENHANCED CRYSTALS
This is what I call natural crystals and gemstones that have been specialist treated. This can be done purely for aesthetics but also for metaphysical reasons, like aura crystals. This is because genuine auras are made using other minerals, semi-precious or precious metals. All of which are natural in origin and have metaphysical properties too.
The complex process creates something similar to silver or gold plating. It does not change the crystal structure or internal colour of the crystals. It is an ultrathin surface treatment only. However, aura crystals are also being faked a lot now. Fakers will spray paint a crystal or coat them in acrylic paint or plastic to imitate popular aura crystals…
EXAMPLES: Aqua Aura, Angel Aura, Titanium/Flame Aura, Sunshine Aura, Mystic Topaz
RECONSTITUTED STONES
This is not that common but it does exist. There are different ways this could be done but basically it will involve using pieces of natural crystal or powdered gemstones. These will be combined together and compressed with a binder such as resin or glass, for example.
I believe the most common reason this is done is because there is just so much waste through cutting gems and carving crystals. Rather than throw it away, the pieces or powder are recycled if you like. These stones are cheaper than the originals. They have a uniform colour and lack the natural character or flaws of the original stone.
I’ve heard about some stones like Quartz and amber being melted/smelted together too. Which is also a form of reconstituted stone to me.
EXAMPLES: Reconstituted Amber, Reconstituted Turquoise, Reconstituted Malachite, Reconstituted Malachite in Azurite
TRUE FAKE CRYSTALS
To clarify, a fake crystal would be a man-made, lookalike, treated, lab-grown or imitation stone being sold as NATURAL or labelled as a stone that it is NOT. Crystal sellers should disclose dying, treatments, lab-grown or enhancements but sometimes they just don’t know.
Just because someone sells a crystal online with ‘natural’ in the title does not mean it is…
Be aware. Know the names and look of man-made and commonly treated crystals. Any crystal book clearly states that Aura crystals are enhanced and how. I’ve covered spotting heat treated Citrine and fake Moldavite at these links. Also, see my general tips below:
TIPS for Buying with Confidence:
- Buy from trusted and established sources
- Don’t be afraid to ask sellers questions
- Research the crystal name first
- Be cautious with unusual colours
- Study illustrated crystal, mineral and gemology books
- If the price is too good to be true, it’s a red flag
- Lightweight and not cool to the touch crystals could be resin
I Have More To Say On This…
Well, I didn’t expect this to be so long. I do have much more to say on this topic. In the future I can go into more detail of the types of crystal examples above and how to spot them. I can cover if they have any spiritual uses or if I feel these treatments could affect them. Let me know if you want a part 2!
Have you bought a fake crystal before or suspect you have an imposter? I would love to hear from you in the comments below (PLEASE keep any questions you have concise and stick to this blog post topic if you want a response).
If you’re looking for help with something else then please check to see if I’ve already covered it in a blog post by searching my website:
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With gratitude,
Ethan
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Copyright © Ethan Lazzerini – The text and photos should not be used or appear elsewhere without permission from the author Ethan Lazzerini. You can share links to it but don’t copy it! Thank you.
Hi Ethan,
I bye raw crystals. I look closely at the crystal online. (As much as I can see online). Thank you for the blog about fake crystals.
Part 2 would be fun! Thank you for writing this!
Opalite is confusing to me, but I like synthetic opal (I prefer wearing it to natural opal because I don’t have to worry as much about it breaking, and I like wearing a synthetic opal nose ring). I don’t understand what looks ”opalescent’ about opalite, to me it seems more like moonstone.
I loooooooove goldstone, and I think synthetic and dyed stones are fun. When you described someone knowingly selling a synthetic stone as a natural stone, that is sleazy! That is so wrong.
Some of these stones, natural, I do feel okay about wearing something that looks like it, instead. I love turquoise but to me it is precious, and it’s somewhat fragile, I feel. As I’m writing this I looked at my finger to look at the turquoise of a small stacking ring and remembered I took them off today.
I don’t understand why anyone would change amethyst to citrine. I do have some curiosity about dyed amethyst. The colors can be so vivid, and being dyed doesn’t make it less beautiful, but I think when they are really bright it causes me to feel they are more fragile, even if they aren’t.
Even plastic ‘gemstones’ can be fun to me, sometimes it is about color, or even textue (though yuck, on the sprayed aura crystals!). It is nice to have both kinds.
I like and have recommended Goldstone before. Opalite is fun, It does look like some opals but there is so much variation in clarity and colours. I have one that has red flash but you’re right looks closer to moonstone in most cases.
Hi Ethan, yes please do a part 2! That was so interesting, thank you. I’m sure I have some fake moldavite. I checked it through the microscope and it looks pretty real, but the price was too good to be true. Also bought a stone called terahertz which I later realised was man made. Oh well!
Ive seen Terahertz and had a feeling it was man made but I dont have any. Remember everything has energy.
Hi Ethan, I really enjoyed the article, and would love to see Part 2!
As an Arizona native, I do attend the huge annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, and appreciate when vendors accurately disclose their products’ origins. I am really disappointed/upset however, when many vendors recently have started to attempt to pass off dyed howlite as real turquoise at this prestigious event. There are wonderful natural sources of turquoise in the state, but it is sad that consumers are being taken advantage of in this context. Knowledge is power–thanks and keep up the good work!
Glad this was helpful for you, Lucius. Yeah, that’s a shame I guess the events just got so big that some not so good sellers got in.
I would love to see a part 2 on fake crystals. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Thank you
Noted, thank you
I’d love a part 2! Thank you for all the knowledge you share, Ethan.
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Yes, definitely yes to a part two!
Fake/dyed/misidentified crystals are a common problem, whether it’s because of an under-educated seller or an unscrupulous one. I have three lovely, genuine large faceted Earth Rubies, and an Emerald, all of which have been dyed. The dye comes out (all over my hands, usually) but… the sellers were honest about the gems being dyed, but really, there’s no need.
Something else that upsets me is when the seller outright lies about provenance/origin. I bought a fantastic cushion cut Aquamarine, which the seller claimed was from Brazil. The price clued me in, so it wasn’t a shock when the gemological certificate it came with said “Laboratory grown”; it was a touch disappointing, but I’ve never given a hoot about lab-grown vs earth mined, and I’m not about to start now.
Love and Light.
Wow, definatly good info for those buying gems. I wouldn’t have considered it lab grown if the location appeared but yes it does not mean mined there I suppose
I would love part 2 ! I have found that many of this crystals you talked about in the post work perfectly fine for metaphysics and energy porpoises like all the aura crystals, heated citrine (no so strong as the citrine that was born citrine) and golsdtone. I would love read you opinion about it and everything you have to say on this topic
Hi I agree, always had good experiences with the auras and other enhanced stones so I always mentions these in my books, videos and posts as an option