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EastCulture
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 14
Location: DaYe
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 01:20 Post subject: Is it true green Okenite? |
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Today I bought a green Okenite.I don't know if it is true.I hear of some fakement about it.How to identify it?The size is 17*9.5 cm.The main crystal of the green Okenite is 3cm.There are some white Okenite balls too.
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green Okenite The size is 17*9.5 cm.The main crystal of the green Okenite is 3cm |
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EastCulture
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 14
Location: DaYe
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 01:27 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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another image
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chris
Site Admin
Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 538
Location: Grenoble
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 02:12 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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Hi,
I'm afraid you bought a fake. Okenite's color is either white, colorless, more rarely light yellow or light blue. I think the color here is too strong to be natural.
You can always try to put it in water and see what happens. If the dye used is soluble in water you'll soon know it. Otherwise try to put some organic solvent on a hidden corner of one of the ball and look at the result.
If you want to know more about it, visit the fake pages of justin's website at : the-vug (dot) com
You can also put some money in a directory book about minerals where you'll get information regarding shape, color, association, all little things that might help you guess if a specimen you are willing to buy is natural, man made or man improved.
Hope to have answered your question
Christophe
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4902
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 06:04 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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I'm sorry, but the green Okenites are not true.
Mindat warn about it on its Okenite's main page: https://www.mindat.org/min-2967.html
Jordi
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EastCulture
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 14
Location: DaYe
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 06:44 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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Thanks a lot!!
To chris:I had put it into water,but don't see any decolor.Now I don't have organic solvent.I will try the way later.
To Jordi:I believe many colorful Okenite are fake.But if exists true green Okenite?I also upload another green Okenite of my friend.I want to know the reason that it is fake is only its color?
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John S. White
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1295
Location: Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 07:34 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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Wow, it is hard to imagine that this could have been faked. I would like to believe it is natural and I hope that someone can come forth with evidence, one way or the other, to support its true nature.
_________________ John S. White
aka Rondinaire |
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Xavier Martinez
Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 12
Location: Molins de Rei- Barcelona-
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 15:07 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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I would bet to that are colored, very characteristic of Chinese salespersons. The green throwing to turquoise tried to place me once, forced the own salesperson admitted that they colored them reason it was more aesthetic."
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4902
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jul 13, 2008 17:56 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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I received this message from Marie Huizing and with her permission I share it with our forum's visitors. Thanks Marie!
I'm sure they have been dyed. When Terry (my husband) went to China with Bert Ottens, he took several photos of these specimens, one of which is pictured (page 109) in his article (pages 102-113) in vol. 10 of Mineralogical Almanac's Mineral Observer (2006). To quote the article, "As with all Chinese minerals, great care must be taken to avoid fraudulent specimens and those with concealed damage. Our guide was one of the larger wholesalers of non-China minerals to the Chinese market. We visited his home and mineral warehouse where a considerable stock of Indian minerals was being prepared for sale. Among the prepared specimens were basalt vugs lined with typical white zeolites on which were perched colorful orange and blue-green okenite puff balls. True to the Chinese value system, creating these dyed specimens is simply considered a clever marketing technique. Later in our travels we saw this same material for sale in tourist gift shops."
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Carles Curto
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 160
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jul 14, 2008 00:52 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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few monts ago I saw some yellow chinese okenites. They really were indian and artificially colored. I suppose your case is the same. Okenite is very absorbent and just few colored (yellow, green, red... ¡It does'nt matter!) drops are enough. Just a fake.
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John S. White
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1295
Location: Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted: Jul 14, 2008 04:22 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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There you go, the evidence seems conclusive and these are indeed fakes. They remind me of something seen in Tucson about five years ago. A dealer in Indian minerals had groups of elongated crystals (they may have been laumontite) from India that were royal blue in color, but in that case the coloring appeared to be not as well done, as though it was applied with Magic Markers. I challenged their authenticity (as did many other people) but he at first refused to believe the color was fake and claimed that he saw them come out of the ground that color. Later on, he admitted that they were not natural.
_________________ John S. White
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4902
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jul 14, 2008 05:29 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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Still an other text to prove that these colorful Okenites are dyed. This time the message comes from Terry Huizing and he also added a photo. I publish it here on his behalf.
Thanks Terry, really helpful!
I am adding a photo of Indian okenite imported into China, and there altered (dyed), and put out for sale into the China market. I took the photo in May 2006 in Guilin at the home of a major mineral importer, who obtained several containers of specimens from a well-known Indian dealer. Note the syringe used to color the "puffs" of okenite either a blue-green or orange, and the bottles of dye. It serves no purpose to name the folks involved.
It is regrettable that the Chinese think such alteration is simply clever marketing. Because the specimens are rather striking, I'm not at all surprised to learn that they have entered the world market.
Terry
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Dyed Okenite imported into China. |
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Carles Curto
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 160
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jul 14, 2008 06:38 Post subject: Re: Is it true green Okenite? |
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Just another short note about colorful Okenite. The sample of yellow Okenite I comented in my last post was comercialized in China... as Artinite!
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