Artificial amethyst: what is it and how to distinguish it from natural stone?

Amethyst is a type of natural quartz. It belongs to the precious or semiprecious stones and is known since ancient times. Transparent copies belong to the precious, and opaque - to the semi-precious. Amethyst is mentioned even in biblical texts. Copies of this mineral adorn the crowns of both the British Empire and the Russian Tsars. The popularity of this mineral has not faded away in our time.

Modern jewelers use it in the manufacture of various jewelry: pendants, pendants, rings, bracelets, hairpins, etc. Despite the fact that amethyst is not a rare or very expensive stone, they began to actively forge it.

To be able to determine the authenticity of the stone and distinguish natural crystal from a fake, even at home, consider several features inherent in this amethyst. The most important characteristic is color. The color scheme is mainly in violet tones - from pale lilac to dark lilac, almost black. Due to this color gem is often called stone violet. The stone is usually translucent, uneven, dull color.

The crystal has a sufficient degree of hardness - 7 on the Mohs scale, that is, it is problematic to scratch it, however, it can easily damage glass itself, for example. For amethyst characteristic glass, pearl luster, transparency, fragility, lack of cleavage.

Under the guise of a real gem, dishonest sellers may offer imitations of glass, plastic, other natural, but cheaper minerals. In addition, artificially grown crystals, including amethysts, are emerging. Grow similar specimens based on quartz. That is, natural material is used. The rate of crystal creation in the laboratory is about 0.5 mm per day, i.e. small crystal can be obtained in a month.

By most characteristics, hydrothermal samples are not inferior to natural ones, even surpass them in some indicators. Because artificial stones are perfect. Such in nature do not occur. One of the ways to create artificial minerals is hydrothermal. Its essence lies in the crystallization of a substance from a hot solution of water under high pressure.

Synthetic and hydrothermal crystals are not in the full sense of a fake natural stone. They rather belong to artificial counterparts, this is a kind of alternative to natural materials. So, the main difference between synthetic crystals and hydrothermal crystals is the foundation. For hydrothermal, natural raw materials are chopped into small pieces. And for synthetic not a crumb, a solution.

Since the basic physical characteristics and properties of the gem are preserved, synthetic and hydrothermal stones are widely used in jewelry. Masters are not so important in what conditions the crystal was formed - in nature or in the laboratory, color, density, structure are more important.

Hydrothermal and synthetic stones are used not only for the manufacture of jewelry, but also in the military and aerospace industry, even in medical devices. The seller must tell the buyer that the stone has undergone hydrothermal processing. If a product is sold with a hydrothermal stone, then in the description of the insert there will be a “GT” marking, which informs that the gem is artificial.

Also, an imitation of the gem can be obtained if the colorless quartz is irradiated with cobalt, after which the crystal changes to a violet color. The problem is that it will quickly disappear when heated or staying in the sunlight.

Plastic imitation is the easiest to identify. It is light compared to the stone, warm, easily damaged. Even an unprepared person can handle it.

There are several ways to distinguish a real mineral from a synthetic or glass analog.

• Colour. The first step in the visual assessment of the stone is proposed to pay attention to the purity and color. The color of the natural gem is not completely flat and equally saturated over the entire surface. Also there is no perfect transparency. Of course, such a sample would look the most advantageous in any decoration. But the fact is that in nature these are extremely rare. So, before us artificially grown crystal.
• The next item is a test for hardness. For this test, you will need a knife or blade that can be used to scratch a stone. As mentioned earlier, amethyst is pretty hard, so it's difficult to leave a scratch on it. If this succeeds, then you have a fake. Similarly, it is possible to distinguish a mineral of natural origin from glass and plastic. If the crystal is artificially grown, then it has the same hardness as the real one. Therefore, scratches will not appear on it.
• Thermal conductivity. One of the easiest methods. Most of the natural gems (amethyst is not an exception) are characterized by poor thermal conductivity. If you hold it in your hand, then a real amethyst will hardly heat up. Forgery is much faster. This experience works best when comparing two samples. If you know the origin of one of them, then imitation can be determined by the difference in heating time.
• Water. In this experiment, when checking for authenticity, the sample is immersed in water for a minute and looked at its edges. With a real stone, the edges will look paler. This method is suitable for all versions of imitations, including artificially grown minerals - they retain a uniform color.
• Ultraviolet. When exposed to ultraviolet light, amethyst of natural origin will discolor evenly, unlike synthetic ones. Last discolored stains. Even if you compare the color of the crystal in bright sunlight and indoor lighting, the difference will be noticeable in natural stone.
• Magnifier Using a microscope or a magnifying glass you can detect microcracks or the inclusion of gas bubbles. Artificially grown samples cannot have them. Also on the surface of artificial minerals are uneven lines - they occur when grown in laboratory conditions.

All verification methods listed above are suitable for home use. There are laboratory methods - x-ray or spectral analysis. They have a high cost, but guarantee the determination of the authenticity of the mineral with high accuracy.

How to determine the natural stone, see the following video.