[Rockhounds] Chinese Crystals on E-Bay

[Kevin Winter]

I actually purchased one of these on ebay.  I never got around to
checking refractive index or anything (plus it weighs about 5 pounds),
but i'm not 100% sure they are actual quartz.

The specimen i received had a small chip on the bottom showing a
concoidial fracture.  In addition, there are many fine bubbles that
form a hazy shadow you may be able to see in the pictures.  I made
sure i picked the cleanest one listed, and while the bubbles are
small, they worry me.

I'm by no means a rock expert (an enthusiatic and inexperienced
amateur collector maybe), but i suspect it may be glass.  I tried
scratching the bottom with some various materials, including some
rough zircon i had laying around, but the results weren't distinct
enough for me to say that it was definitely scratched, or only
slightly scratched (plus, i've never actually done a scratch test).

Just remember that i am recalling a 5lb-ish clear "quartz" crystal i
purchases from ebay and shipped from china, so mine may be different.
After i received it i went back and double-checked - the auction never
actually mentioned quartz, just "crystal".

Hope this helps.

I'd be willing do re-do a scratch test if someone can describe how to
do it correctly.  I have a refractometer (among other random
chinese-cheap gemologist tools), but never really used it and i doubt
i could fit the specimen on it (and i'd rather avoid chipping off a
hunk if possible).

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 3:38 PM, Charles Baran <kcbaran at arczip.com> wrote:
> Friends:  If you get on E-bay,  input  quartz crystals  in the search
> feature you will come up with a whole BUNCH of hits.  Many of them are big,
> very nice and very cheap. You can tell the Chinese crystals because most are
> being held in a person's hand with an outdoors background.   Has anyone ever
> bought these or have any ideas or feed back as far as quality, buying
> safety, etc? Thanks?
>  Chuck Baran
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