[Rockhounds] Chinese mineral - help with verification

[Lyle Pai]

Hi Axel,

I don't think the copper was glued on because it would be nearly impossible to get the copper crystals to fit into the crevices. In some cases, there was a quartz crystal extending over the mouth of a crevice. I was wondering if there was other ways of growing copper crystal onto the epidote or dripping liquid copper onto the epidote for form those flower-like growths? Does anyone know if this has been done or whether it was even possible to do such a thing?

It's just that in some cases the copper crystals were so perfectly placed in the centre of a patch of epidote that it seems almost unreal...

I believe the specimen was cleaned with acid. Otherwise the copper wouldn't look so cleaned. I was hoping to get a 'pre-treated' sample but that was not available.

I've seen the epidote and quartz combination from other locations in China but not with the natural copper like that. If it's for real, I wouldn't mind having a few pieces of it in my collection...

Thanks,
Lyle

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Axel Emmermann" <axel.emmermann at pandora.be>
To: "'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors'" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 4:52 PM
Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] Chinese mineral - help with verification


> Hi Lyle,
> 
> > However, there are some questions surrounding its pedigree; like whether
> it was 'natural'
> > and whether it was from China, etc....
> 
> [Axel] If you suspect the specimen to be "doctored" in some way: a UV-lamp
> may reveal traces of glue by its blue-white fluorescence.  You 'll have to
> look closely... forgery is becoming a real master craft.
> 
> AxeL
> 
> -- 
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