Quality perspectives

[ABnanashi]

I’m curious about your views here. I’m learning and curious and undecided and just wondering what the general communities feelings are on this.

Crystals have been around a long time, no doubt, and there are various factors that make up quality but the market has flooded with perfect (and some not perfect) lab grown specimens and I have to wonder if these are the same? Is there a difference? What are the things that matter to you when selecting? Why?

I’m just feeling curious! If anyone wants to talk about how and whys of natural vs man made oooh or selection strategy.....aaaand I’m feeling nerdy

[Stug88]

Lab grown specimens are usually better looking but in my opinion lack the color depth of a real highest quality gem. Lab grown stuff is hit or miss when it comes to energy or astrology. Processed or heat treated stones can be either great or disappointing they certainly do not lack in asthetics and usually look better after heat treatment.

A heat treated ruby does look better visually but doesn't have the same effect on emotions or auric field. If you want to harnass the astrologicsl energies heat treated is usually a poor choice. Exceptions are aqua aura which is real natural quartz but is heat treated with a layer of gold powder and trace minerals. These crystals usually work.

Citrine quartz which is actually heated amythist for me has profound effects on the aura field and works better than calcite, very expansive effects. However it does not really assert any planetary energies or poorly compared to real citrine .or calcite. It doesn't seem to have any healing effect or effect on emotions but still effects auric field.

Avoid heat treated emerald, ruby and sapphire. I rsther have slighly lower quality stone which looks rough and natural. Those crystal too clear and perfect stones are usually fakes. Garnet usually got some natural impurities and shouldn't be clear or glasslike if it is its usually fake...fake garnets are trash

If you do see an extreme high quality stone for example yellow sapphire there should be a certificate of proof with test result.

[Sylmar]

I always wanted a nice piece of Dioptase and I saw a nice little piece on eBay Germany last summer. The seller was quitting his collecting hobby and put it on auction together with some Pyromorphite which I was also interested in, so I bought them from him.

It was a real nice guy and we chatted a little online and as he was quitting with collecting he asked me if I was also interested in his hydrothermals which he would include for free.

When I got them I must admit I didn't know what they were, I had to look it up but these are labgrown crystals. They don't feel as an essential addition but nice to look at at the same time.

As for their metaphysical worth sources seems to be a bit conflicted. Judy Hall mentions Siberian Quartz in her books, this is also labgrown.

At the moment I must admit that I am a bit intrigued by them. Sure I can see the idea of the way they are made is not attractive to some but I can also see
their beauty. It's also nice that it is far more easy to get a nice stone for a ring or pendant, more people can enjoy gems this way and they are ethically 'mined'. No nature was damaged by creating them.

These are the ones sent to me:

[BigJohn]

Your hydrothermals are just gorgeous! Thanks for showing them off.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by ABnanashi

I’m curious about your views here. I’m learning and curious and undecided and just wondering what the general communities feelings are on this.

Crystals have been around a long time, no doubt, and there are various factors that make up quality but the market has flooded with perfect (and some not perfect) lab grown specimens and I have to wonder if these are the same? Is there a difference? What are the things that matter to you when selecting? Why?

I’m just feeling curious! If anyone wants to talk about how and whys of natural vs man made oooh or selection strategy.....aaaand I’m feeling nerdy

Do a blind test and then look at the results.

Ask ten people which stone/crystal they prefer from the following list.


          CRYSTAL/                                          CRYSTAL/
             STONE                                              STONE
           ▀▀▀▀▀▀                                             ▀▀▀▀▀▀
1. MAN MADE QUARTZ POINT              NATURAL QUARTZ POINT

2. MAN MADE HEMATITE POINT            NATURAL HEMATITE POINT

3. MAN MADE FACETED RUBY               NATURAL, FACETED RUBY

4. CITRINE POINT FROM HEAT              NATURAL CITRINE POINT
    TREATED AMETHYST

5. MAN MADE CRYSTAL BALL                  CRYSTAL BALL MADE FROM
                                                           NATURAL QUARTZ


Those who can feel energy, choose the first column.

Those who really know their 'stuff', choice the second column.

[FairyCrystal]

I think most people can feel it.
I have a Leandro light smokey quartz crystal skull, top quality crystal, natural as well. I once posted a photo of my crystal skull group, deliberately put him in the back, you could only see a part of him.
Yet, everyone talked about him, no one mentioned any of the other skulls, even though there were very nice ones in the group. Even the not so knowledgeable and newer crystal/energy workers only seemed to notice him and be attracted to him.
Apparently you just cannot hide it, people pick up on the energies regardless.

Another one, a rather tall natural citrine that is so light that at night in shaded light you'd think it's clear quartz (same as with that skull btw).
Its energies are so high it's almost elusive. I was told by a crystal master there are 3 crystal beings in it.
I have 2 more citrine points, natural, their energies are entirely different.
The same for the natural citrine in the crystal shop I go to. So it also depends on what area/country they're from.

Heat treated citrine has energies, it's not labgrown, it has only been altered. I personally have none. It doesn't appeal to me so much.

Labgrown crystals... they might be nice, but I don't see how they can ever be the same and have the same effects and powerful energies.
All the things that have created natural crystals and have shaped their energy, their form, texture etc etc. Them absorbing the energies of the area. You cannot copy that in a lab and get the same thing. Nor will you ever get Lemurian energies in a lab.
To me they'd be pretty but like coloured glass.

[BigJohn]

Their are some crystals and stones coming out of China and elsewhere that are man made that look a whole lot better then the original ones.

Some examples are:

Golden Healer
Malachite
Hematite

Try doing a blind test like I mentioned in a previous post. You might be surprised how easy some people are 'fooled'.

The classic in man-made items can be found in fossils: especially whole dinosaur fossils. Some of those fossils have absolutely zero age but are sold as fossils even though they are 100% replicas.

The crystals and rocks I am amazed with are the ones which have been trademarked. Before being trademarked, they had very little value. But once trademarked, the seller does their magick, and all of a sudden the rock or crystal is producing a huge amount of energies. This seems to be the modern day version of Alchemy 101. This same technique can be done to man made rocks and crystals.

[FairyCrystal]

I do have a fake ruby and 3 smaller fake citrines. Courtesy of Chinese sellers on Ebay, haha. I DID get my money back as I quickly concluded they were fake.
I'm not sure if I could do a blind feeling test. I don't buy crystals with a blindfold either ya know, hihi. For me the intuiting thing is both visual and feeling with hands and body.
I've had the most gorgeous pink danburite call me from meters away in the shop as I just absentmindedly glanced over the shelves. Suddenly something seemed to sparkle and I knew that I needed that crystal. I had no idea what it was and it turned out to be that clear pink danburite.
Could I do that blindfolded?
When there's a whole selection of the same crystals out on a shelf, I choose visually.

I do know a man-made crystal ball does nothing for me. I got a few, remnants from the Wicca & New Age shop I once had. It's just glass I think. They're pretty, yes, but that's it.

I also have 4 diamond shapes / prisms. One pink, one purple, one smokey, one clear. I get nothing from those except for emotional pleasure as that is the symbol I use to represent me, and my online practice.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by FairyCrystal

I do have a fake ruby and 3 smaller fake citrines. Courtesy of Chinese sellers on Ebay, haha. I DID get my money back as I quickly concluded they were fake.

How were you able to tell they were fake?

I have a refractometer which will tell me if it is chemically a real ruby. I have a high power microscope that can show growth patterns.

Originally Posted by FairyCrystal

I do know a man-made crystal ball does nothing for me. I got a few, remnants from the Wicca & New Age shop I once had. It's just glass I think. They're pretty, yes, but that's it.

Some crystal balls are glass and some are real. Chemically, they are generally the same.

[FairyCrystal]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

How were you able to tell they were fake?

I have a refractometer which will tell me if it is chemically a real ruby. I have a high power microscope that can show growth patterns.




Some crystal balls are glass and some are real. Chemically, they are generally the same.

The ruby was easy, hihi. I already had my suspicions from the looks of it. I have a real one, so I know what it's supposed to look like, including when you turn it in light. It has these 'layers' inside. This one didn't have that.
I decided to put it in water. Within a minute the water was as red as if a beetroot was put in it.
I contacted the seller and immediately got my money back.

The citrine was trickier. I felt a different energy, not citrine. I had a very good look in the light and saw the yellow was clearly not evenly spread, not in a natural way.
I think they were irradiated or dyed.
Then there's the fact the seller immediately refunded me...
They're absolutely not real citrine.

So a combination of feeling and seeing, and in case of the 'ruby' the water.
The bummer is, what do you do with them? They are crystals that have been treated. But energetically they don't do anything for me. Yet throwing them in the bin.. I can't!