You would think with the rise of the internet there would be more awareness towards imitation gemstones, synthetics and treatments, but this is still a major issue plaguing many buyers of gemstones. I personally see it almost every day. Whether a friend is showing me a beautiful new mala they got that’s made of glass and plastic (though they were told it has the same healing attributes of the natural stone), seeing other gemstone retailers online, or admiring someone’s large turquoise necklace in the grocery aisle only to notice its completely made of plastic or dyed Howlite.
To give some background, a synthetic gemstone is a gem that mimics the same mineral and crystal structure of a gemstone but was made in a laboratory. An imitation gemstone you will see more commonly among semi-precious gemstones (every gemstone except Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire). The most common imitation used is glass. Glass can be made to look like any color and therefore any transparent or translucent gemstone can be imitated. If the color of the rock or gem has a fake look to it, it probably is. Large pieces of rough, or even beads that have perfect clarity, are easy ways to determine its glass. Even the highest quality gemstones have tiny inclusions of water, air bubbles, or foreign mineral inclusions. Plastic and ceramic are the second most commonly used imitation medium which is typically used to imitate Turquoise or Lapis Lazuli. Howlite and Magnesite can be dyed nearly every color to also imitate gemstones such as Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, and Sugilite. Quartz and Agate also contain a slew of treatments. Agate is often dyed and Quartz is often heavily treated with chemical oxides inducing a gem called “Aqua Aura”. Sometimes these Aqua Aura gems are so cheap, (if found in beads) that they are actually just glass. This is easily detectable by observing the color that simply does not exist anywhere in nature.