[Rockhounds] Chinese Crystals on E-Bay

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Kevin,

It sure sounds like it was poured into a mold while molten -- bubbles in
natural quartz don't form swirls, and they are also somewhat unusual.

Are the faces perfectly flat, or do you see the slight striations that
natural crystals (especially larger ones) usually have?

Is it right or left handed quartz? See

	http://rockhoundingar.com/quartz/rt.left.html

for how to tell. The article also gives some finer points, such as the
difference in reflection from positive and negative faces, that would
help you identify a real crystal from a fake.

Kreigh




Kevin Winter wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 4:31 PM,  <betdav97 at aol.com> wrote:
> > ? Kevin,
> >  ? Funny, quartz does have a conchoidal fracture, and can have bubbles
> >  included in the crystal, some of which may contain water. The synthetic
> >  crystals balls from China ave been pretty free of bubbles. It kind of sounds
> >  like you may have bought a real crystal. However, if you are familiar with
> >  glass bubbles and quartz bubbles, they are not the same.
> >  Dave
> 
> I'm not familiar enough to say one way or the other, but these bubbles
> have a definite swirling pattern to them, almost like someone was
> pouring acrylic and stirred it but didn't let the bubbles settle out
> before it set.  Thats what makes me suspicious.  They are all very
> very small bubbles are are definitely gaseous.  There are quite a few,
> at least dozens to hundreds of small bubbles smaller than a ballpoint
> pen's ball.
> 
> On the other hand, if it is real, very cool =)  The specific one i
> purchased had a seller registered in canada and with shipping it was
> only about $30 (US) for a 2.6 Lb clear crystal.
> --
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