Saturday, June 23, 2007

Accuracy

I am posting a couple pics so I can ask for some help with accurately identifying these beads. They were sold to me (in order of appearance) as:



natural agate

onyx

moss agate

citrine quartz

cherry quartz

iolite quartz



Now, taking what I have learned recently, that means the first 3 are real stone and the last 3 are manmade stones. Or glass I guess. My question is - how come SO many people sell beads labeled as quartz or jade - knowing they aren't? Hmmmm.

4 Comments:

The Beading Gem said...

Hi again! Thanks so much for adding my journal to your blogroll. There are alot of quartz gemstones because quartz is the largest gem family - it is a very common mineral. Citrine is considered a quartz gemstone. There are many misnomers in the gemstone trade for eg new jade is not really jade but another gemstone, serpentine.

Here is one of my past posts on quartz which might be of interest: http://www.beadinggem.com/2007/01/beader-design-4-bgs-triple-quartz.html

BetteJo said...

Thanks! I checked my receipt again - the citrine was labeled "citrine crystal" so I'm thinking glass. :)

The Family Jewels said...

They sell tham that way because those names souns so much prettier that cherry looking agate, etc. ;} I really have no idea, but I do know of several bead sellers who just buy them to resell them without checking into what they really are and some know how to but what they know is going to sell...no ill-intention meant to us buyers. It is up to us as artists to check into these things and then market them truthfully in our artwork.

BetteJo said...

Yup - now it's time to educate myself!