Crystal Identification: 8 Ways to Detect The Authenticity of Crystal

Do you want to know if the crystal you have is real or fake? The good news is, you don't need sophisticated instruments to authenticate crystals. You can determine the authenticity of the crystal you purchased through the following simple methods:

Texture

The most common imitation of crystals on the market is glass. However, crystals are heavier than glass, feel cooler to the touch, and take longer to warm up when held in your hand compared to glass. Although not the most accurate method, people who frequently handle crystals can indeed determine their authenticity based on texture.

Color

Inclusions

Compared to glass, which can achieve complete transparency without impurities, natural crystals mostly have imperfections such as mineral defects, cracks, cotton-like or cloudy inclusions, symbiotic minerals, or other impurities, and the arrangement of inclusions appears irregular. This "beauty of chaos" often proves that a crystal is natural because replicating such inclusions artificially is not easy. If your crystal appears excessively clean or if its inclusions seem unnaturally orderly, resembling deliberate craftsmanship, you should reasonably suspect it might be glass.

Additionally, there's a key point in authentication: although natural crystals often contain impurities, they will never have perfectly round bubbles. Circular bubbles are the biggest characteristic of glass. If you see them, it's almost certain that it's glass. The only exception for natural crystals to contain bubbles is when certain crystals contain both water and air, which is called "enhydros". However, even in enhydros, the bubbles will not be perfectly round, and they will change position with the water level, making them easy to identify with the naked eye. Glass bubbles are perfectly round, without water, and do not change position.

Fracture

If your crystal is broken, you can observe the characteristics of the fracture surface. The fracture surface of natural crystals is usually curved, resembling a shell, rather than flat or planar.

If the natural crystal is accidentally dropped, it may exhibit corner defects, internal cracks, a broken crystal column, or a fractured crystal cluster at the joint. However, unlike glass, there will be no splintering or debris on the ground in such cases.

Birefringence

Crystals exhibit birefringence, meaning that when light passes through them, it splits into two beams, whereas glass does not show this phenomenon. By using this principle, you can place a hair strand behind the crystal or draw a line on paper and press the crystal onto it. If it's a genuine crystal, the line will split into two, or when the crystal shape is irregular, you'll see various distortions in the line, sometimes even more than two. This traditional method of crystal authentication, passed down through generations, has its limitations. Due to the small birefringence of crystals, typically a crystal with a thickness of at least 5cm is required to observe this phenomenon.

Hardness Test

The hardness of a crystal is 7, while glass has a hardness of only 5.5. Scratching glass with the sharp edge of a crystal can leave a mark. Using expensive jewelry-grade crystals for this test isn't advisable because although the crystal can scratch glass, it might still incur slight damage itself. Moreover, a common substitute for crystals on the market, known as leaded glass, with a hardness of 6-7, can also scratch ordinary glass. Swarovski crystals belong to this category. If you suspect that the crystal you have is leaded glass, please use other tests to confirm.

Polarization Testing

Under a gemstone appraisal instrument called a "polarization microscope," when you rotate a crystal 360 degrees, you will observe four cycles of brightness and darkness, known as "four brights and four darks." Every 90-degree rotation will result in a cycle of brightness and darkness, while glass will appear uniformly dark without any changes. If you have a computer and a pair of sunglasses with polarization functionality at home, you don't need to purchase specialized equipment to perform this test effectively. Here's how: place the crystal on the computer screen, put on the polarized sunglasses, and rotate the crystal to observe any changes in brightness. If changes occur, you can confirm that it's a genuine crystal. This principle relies on the fact that computer screens have a polarizing film, emitting polarized light. When combined with polarized sunglasses, this setup is equivalent to a polarization microscope instrument.

Specific Gravity Measurement

Each mineral has a specific relative density, also known as specific gravity. Jewelry appraisal centers use density meters or specific gravity liquids to measure specific gravity. What many people don't know is that with a digital scale accurate to 0.1g (many kitchen scales meet this requirement), you can accurately measure specific gravity without purchasing any specialized equipment. The density of crystal is approximately 2.65g/cm³, slightly lighter than ordinary glass, which has a density of only 2.5g/cm³. Leaded glass, on the other hand, is significantly heavier, with a density of over 3.1g/cm³. You can use this difference to determine the authenticity of crystals at home.

First, you should prepare:

1. Electronic microscale with accuracy of 0.1g. (If you want to detect small gems of about 1g, it is best to use a jewelry scale with an accuracy of 0.01g.)
2. A small prop that can hold or hang the crystal can be silk thread, nickel, mini egg beater, wire or chopsticks.
3. A cup for water. Just enough water to drown the crystal.
4. The crystal under assessment must be in its natural state, without inlays or symbiotic minerals. Additionally, it's not advisable to employ this method for gemstones weighing less than 1g, as equipment limitations may compromise the accuracy of determination for smaller gems.

The measurement steps are as follows:

1. Measure the weight of the crystal and record it as weight
2. Insert the small prop into the water, almost reaching the bottom of the cup but without actually touching it. You will notice that even though the prop does not touch the cup, the weight shown on the scale increases. Once the increased weight stabilizes, press the zero button on the scale with your other hand to reset it, and remember this position.
3. Clamp or suspend the crystal with the small prop, and insert it into the water to the depth you previously remembered. Record the weight shown on the scale as weight 2.
4. Divide weight 1 by weight 2 to obtain the specific gravity of the crystal.
5. Compare the obtained value to see if it's close to 2.65, closer to the 2.5 of ordinary glass, or over 3.1 for leaded glass. This will reveal the true identity of the "crystal" you have on hand!

In conclusion, these methods—hardness, polarization testing, and specific gravity measurement—are scientific identification methods used by jewelry appraisal centers. Crystal Lotus Crystal Identification Laboratory shares this information with you so that with simple equipment around you, you can also become an expert in crystal identification!

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