Gemstone Identification and MISidentification...

Howdy Folks, there is SO much out there in the gem & jewelry industry in the way of beautiful gemstones, as well as beautiful simulants, beautiful glass, beautiful resins, and much more to be used as adornment. I'm the first to admit that I can be a bit of a "rock snob". Yet I also really appreciate fabulous fakes. It's hard for the lay person and sometimes even the expert to tell the difference, between natural and man made or enhanced materials. I just wanted to start a thread where folks can ask questions and solicit informed feedback. It's often really hard to identify a stone by a picture, but some things are glaringly obvious. I'll start by sharing a few things...
MULTICOLOR or COLORED TURQUOISE: There is no such thing! A recent search brought up nearly 3,000 items on eBay and they are all either dyed howlite, dyed magnesite, or reconstituted powders and pigments that are mostly resin. Anything you see that is multicolored and striped is absolutely manufactured. Colbaugh Processing in Kingman, Arizona is a major American stabilizer & reconstituter of natural turquoises. About a decade ago they came up with a meterial they call "Rainbow Calsilica" which is very similiar. I have cut this material and I have seen the "multicolor turquoise" beads. While they may have genuine ground up rock IN the mix, most of the material is stabilizing resin and colored dyes or pigments. Turquoise does NOT come in purple, or white, or orange, or bright greens, or chartreuse, or any other color other than shades of light blues, sky blues, and blue greens. Natural untreated turquoise may absorb bodily oils over time and become quite greenish in color, but they won't "scream" green!
CHERRY QUARTZ: It's pink included glass made in China.
GREEN AMETHYST: Amethyst is quartz with enough iron present to make it ANY shade of lavendar to purple. If the quartz is green, it CANNOT be called amethyst. The correct name for Green Amethyst is PRASIOLITE.
GOLDSTONE: A beautiful glass that is made with copper crystals precipitated in the glass. Developed by Italian glass makers hundreds of years ago and hard to make! I really appreciate goldstone and it used to be hard to get, but now the Chinese seem to have cracked the production code and there is quite a bit of it available. It comes in brown, blue (which is deep blue to purplish) and occassionally a deep green. The Italian word for goldstone is aventurrina. Here's a great link for the history of goldstone.

That's it for now! More to follow....