From time to time, certain gemstone catch ones eye at shows, and you just have to get one or some because they are so unique and different. But as the saying goes "Buyer Beware!" There are so many reconstituted items and downright fakes any more, without a good eye, some training and some special tools or tests, it is very hard to spot many of the fakes.
.
But once you see and obtain an unusual piece, and then try to work with it, sometimes you find out very quickly that is is not a real gemstone. In a recent attempt to drill a hole for a bail in a newly found item, it quickly became evident that the gemstone was not stone at all but a piece of nicely colored resin. As seen in the picture, the diamond drill bit melted its way through rather than drilling, and left the melted resin adhered to the drill bit.
.
So far the most common fakes have been found in Turquoise, Malachite, Calsilica, Copal and Amber, and this just pertains to total fakes and not colored or other modifications done to actual gemstones, or making other gemstones look like something they are not, i.e. Howlite colored to look like Turquoise..
.
.
