Fakebusters: Charoite

So, lately I have been finding an all new type of fakery, and it is at plague proportions! It is charoite, an expensive stone found along the Chara river in Russia. It is both beautiful and rare, which means it gets faked a lot. 

Real charoite is mottled, with an iridescent sheen to its banding. There is often patches of green and black, in the form of aegerine. There may also be orange tinaksite present.

Now for the fakes, all of which were taken from popular sales websites.

The mottling of this fake is about the right texture, however the  presence of yellow on it is where this faked crystal fails!

This fake is purple and mottled at least. However it does lack the fibrous banding and the colour is too flat. 

The awful fakes also come set in jewellery. This looks like the one above, with the same flaws present. 

Keep an eye out folks!