FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Joseph DOliveira]

I came across these fake cavansite specimens in Tucson yesterday. They appear to be gyrolite or prehnite balls dyed blue to imitate cavansite, a very poor and obvious fake.

[alfredo]

Jewel Tunnel received a flat of fake cavansites a couple years ago. The balls were made of a mixture of crushed zeolites, with some broken cavansite in the mix too, and glue. One blue ball even had a human hair embedded in it.

[SteveB]

theres a LOT of fakes and lab grown minerals and gemstones cheaply available on Alibaba from China misrepresented as authentic natural minerals and a lot of sellers in western markets are buying them and reselling as authentic so if you buy be careful these arent glue and crushed offcut fakes and are hard to pickeverything from blue chalcedony, blue quartz, to emeralds saphires opala and diamonds. many pass regular tests.
its a good lesson though to take a uv torch to mineral shows and swap meets etc to show up glues in specimens that are repaired or faked to at least save embarasment on some buys.
even a good source location is meaningless as you cant really prove it. so just bare in mind buyer beware and dont believe everything at face value. that said a beautiful fake can still be a beautiful decoration in your home.

[alfredo]

".,..take a uv torch to mineral shows and swap meets etc to show up glues in specimens that are repaired or faked..."

Unfortunately there are many more types of glue available nowadays than 30 years ago. Some of them do not fluoresce. Some of them do not dissolve in acetone. Fakers ("artists") are not stupid. They keep up with the latest technology. So don't place too much faith in the UV torch. Caveat emptor.