Appearance real turquoise has a unique and identifiable look color stability can the color be removed.
Real turquoise jewelry vs fake.
Vintage or handmade costume jewelry pieces are not worthless but when you want precious metals and stones you don t want to be duped into thinking you have the real thing.
On the other hand you might have received a box full of jewelry from an aunt or grandmother who passed and want to know which pieces are real.
And this super absorbent mineral howlite can be dyed in almost any color imaginable.
Buyers are quite happy to purchase altered stones at bargain prices as long as the merchant disclaims its quality and the price reflects the grade of the gem.
You want to see a uniform color throughout the stone.
What is fake turquoise.
People in some societies believed turquoise to have healing powers or protective qualities.
Look at the vibrant colors of real turquoise which ranges from a light sky blue to a gray green color.
The egyptians were fond of turquoise as where the chinese.
Real turquoise is generally flawed and is not a perfect color.
Price if it looks too good to be true it probably is history of turquoise.
Before we go into imitation and enhanced turquoise we must establish what stabilized turquoise is and how it is different from the fake stuff.
Telling the difference between a genuine turquoise stone and a fake one is not the hardest process but you cannot be completely certain without a refractometer test.
Most commonly dyed howlite and magnesite have been used to imitate turquoise.
It is difficult to tell the difference between a good fake and the real thing.
In fact turquoise has been discovered that was carved by chinese artisans over 3 000 years ago.
Turquoise sky reports that fake turquoise pieces are often sold at lower prices than legitimate stones and cautions against buying turquoise at suspiciously steep discounts.
These impostor stones are often made of epoxy and powdered turquoise placed around a rock base.
If you want to know the difference between fake turquoise and real turquoise then you should first know what fake turquoise is.
The majority of turquoise on the market still makes a great gift.
Glass and enamel have been used and today ceramics porcelain plastics and various other materials have been used to imitate turquoise.
Fake turquoise is actually an absorbent white mineral called howlite.
When it comes to jewelry grade turquoise most of it has been stabilized with epoxy.
Turquoise stones have long been an object of desire for many different cultures.
This stabilization is necessary to make low grade quality turquoise the majority of turquoise mined hard enough to be shaped and polished.