How to distinguish natural from artificial stone?

Today, the market for precious products is replete with artificial jewelry - their number far exceeds natural products. For this reason, the question of the difference between natural gems and artificial products has now become relevant. First, it is worth understanding concepts such as imitation and synthesized precious product.

A stone similar to a natural mineral but created in a laboratory is called a synthesized gemstone. In terms of its physical and chemical parameters, it completely coincides with natural stone. A product that only repeats external data and not structural properties is called imitation.

Thanks to modern technologies, it is possible to artificially grow a stone in a laboratory in a short time. For the growth of minerals, ideal conditions are created in which specialists improve the characteristic properties of the product. For this reason, synthetic samples correspond to high quality natural materials.

The manufacture of synthetic jewelry has been practiced for a long time, using multi-colored glass as a starting material. In the 19th century, special institutions appeared in which high-quality rubies and sapphires were created, difficult to distinguish from real ones. Such centers have appeared in Russia as well.

Turquoise takes the lead in imitation. Genuine turquoise is almost impossible to find in nature. Craftsmen make jewelry from turquoise powder, glue small crystal particles. More than half of the turquoise gems are not natural.

Turquoise is a semi-precious mineral, a symbol of happiness and good luck. They began to counterfeit turquoise back in Ancient Egypt, replacing it with tinted glass.

Since then, both master jewelers and lovers of this stone have been trying to recognize the true mineral.

In the group of leaders in the production of synthetic gems is the ruby. When choosing a ruby, buyers need to remember that the natural product of the same name is cloudy in appearance, not particularly pure, the crystal is expensive. If the buyer is offered to purchase a stone at an affordable price and of high quality, then most likely it will be a synthesized stone or imitation.

The basic rule for determining the authenticity of a ruby ​​is the correspondence between price and quality.

This stone also takes one of the leading places in synthetic gems. Specialists for the manufacture of synthetic minerals use:

• low quality natural crystals;
• glass and plastic;
• combined crystals with glass.

To determine the quality of the stone, you need to pay attention to the gluing site. If there are bubbles, then it is fake. But an appraiser will help to reliably recognize the authenticity of a gem.

This stone belongs to high-value precious nuggets of the highest class. The shade of emeralds is different - it depends on its deposit. The most valuable are the Colombian varieties, which are bright green and blue in color.

The first synthetic emerald was grown by the Germans in the 19th century. Artificial emeralds are a clever fake. It is possible to distinguish a fake by the edges: in the light they shine through well, and you can see the parallel arrangement of the edges.

If we talk about sapphire, then this is a crystal of the same name, which is slightly inferior in properties to diamond. Sapphire is endowed with an extraordinary blue or violet color with a strong sheen. There is a myth that real sapphire has magical and medicinal properties, brings happiness to the owner, protects from damage and slander.

It is impossible to recognize a genuine stone from a fake by its appearance at home - only a professional appraiser can do this. Under a magnifying glass, a specialist will check the refraction of light and, having dipped the mineral into a special liquid, will determine the authenticity of the product. If the sapphire is real, it will sink, unlike a fake.

Real pearls are a precious gem with an irregular structure, uneven color, characteristic strength, density and value.

Natural pearls are a mineral with a rough surface and a sandy texture.

Synthetic beads do not squeak. You can also throw a bead on the floor - real pearls will bounce up, and artificial pearls can crack and split. The fake differs from the original and to the touch: the natural stone is cool, and the artificial version has an ambient temperature.

One of the oldest stones is amber. For hundreds of thousands of years, people have been decorating their clothes, dwellings, and themselves with items made of precious gemstones. Recently, there are many fakes and high-quality imitations of a stone on the jewelry market. It is not difficult to recognize real amber - it is imitated by low-quality crystals and plastic. If you bring a match to a fake, the mineral heats up, a smell of plastic appears, not resin.

This stone is a processed natural diamond, an expensive gem that is most popular with both jewelers and buyers.

To distinguish a fake from a genuine diamond, you need to look at it under a lighting fixture at a right angle. A real diamond will have a glow from the back facets.The authenticity of a diamond will confirm its hardness. A diamond can cut glass - it will surely leave scratches and roughness on the surface of other minerals.

Many women of fashion have jewelry with huge bright red stones. These are real or artificially grown rubies. A real ruby ​​costs a little less than a diamond. There are several ways to determine the authenticity of a stone:

• if you put the mineral in a glass dish, then a reddish light will pour out of it;
• if you put a ruby ​​in a glass of milk, it will turn red;
• if a real stone lies on the eyelid, it will retain its temperature.

The semi-precious stone topaz looks unusually beautiful. It is named after an island called Topazion, located in the Red Sea. Topaz jewelry is the most popular choice for women.

To determine the authenticity of the crystal at home, you need to take woolen fabric as an assistant. Rubbing real topaz on wool will electrify and attract small objects.

Then there will be no doubt that this is a real noble gem.

From the foregoing, the following conclusion can be drawn: jewelry purchases are verified in several ways. These are summarized below:

• to the touch - natural stones have a lower temperature;
• visually - when viewed under a magnifying glass, one can see defective cracks in natural stones;
• by color - for example, fake turquoise will stain the fabric with which the stone is rubbed;
• by smell - for example, if a lighted match is brought to amber beads, then the smell of resin should be emitted during combustion;
• by hardness - an example of a diamond cutting glass;
• by thermophysical properties - an example of electrified amber.

For information on how to distinguish natural stones from fakes and imitations, see the next video.