Fakebusters: What to Look Out For!
Hello fellow Fakebusters!
Today we are going to take a look at some of the warning signs to look out for when buying crystals online. As usual, all of these photos were taken from a popular online auction site.
Crazy rainbow colours!
While some crystals do display some rainbow colours, they are mostly in the form of iridescence, such as labradorite. They can also occur as a result of oxidation, as seen in peacock ore. What is important to remember is that these colours occur randomly, and only rarely form a ROYGBIV rainbow. Incredibly rarely. The crystals pictured above have very uniform and perfect lines of garish colour. They are also clear quartz points, which do not naturally exhibit rainbows, aside from within fracture lines. These points have been treated with artificial aura spray.
Added water! Notice the shine on the hands? These have all been wet, to cover the fact that the stones themselves would be rather dull and dusty. It's a known trick of the mineral world, wet a stone to see what it would look like polished, or in this case, to make it look polished and better quality.
Weirdly photoshopped pictures! Notice in this picture that the shape and proportion of the amethyst point does not match that of the hand? Plus there is unusual patterns and cracks that look like they are too large, and the light comes from different sources. This means that the crystal in the picture has been blown up and superimposed over the hand. The most likely reason why is that they are trying to make a much smaller piece of amethyst look a lot larger.
Keep an eye out for this, as the seller will often list the real weight, or possibly size, to ensure they get away with faking a picture. A misleading picture is often deemed acceptable as long as the seller lists the correct details.
Mismatched pictures and descriptions! The top photo shows an enormous natural amethyst sphere, at least 10cm in diameter sitting in a hand.
However the listing price is only $1AUD, which would definitely not cover the cost of the stone. In the description, after pages of more misleading products, you can finally find the information in the bottom photo. The crystal is at most 2cm in diameter and is listed as being synthetic. This is definitely a case of being too good to be true.
Altered colours. While the labradorite is amazingly coloured, and really draws the eye, there is something to look out for in this photo. Notice how red the hands look? Abnormally so for the average person. This indicates that the colours have been altered on this picture, to appear redder and more saturated. Some smartphones do this automatically, which can be infuriating when trying to photograph crystals, however plenty of sellers do it to make their item look like they have more desirable colours or are better quality.