BLOG #2   Beware

Years ago, before I ever thought about making jewelry, I was visiting Brazil.  Naturally, I needed to buy gifts and looked for them wherever I went. One day, when I was in a store, my eyes caught a display of rocks. Since one of my kids was an avid rock collector, I was drawn to the display. I immediately noticed a beautiful royal blue stone whose shape looked like that of a half of an agate geode but whose color was different.

Knowing that agate geodes are usually light gray or light bluish-gray, I asked the proprietor what it was, and he told me that, indeed, it was an agate. Apparently seeing the disbelief on my face, he volunteered that “only in Brazil do we have this unusual color.” He repeated it several times, I believed him, and I bought it.

When I returned home, I was excited as I gave it to my son, who was skeptical and had to be convinced that it was a special and natural Brazilian agate. It turned out that my son was right! It was a dyed geode.

Nowadays, dyed beads and stones are everywhere and come from many countries. In fact, it is hard to find beads that are not colored in garish colors, polished excessively, or enhanced in one way or another.

After I started making jewelry several years later, I was “taken” again. Once, when I was shopping in a New York City bead shop, I discovered large and beautiful oval cherry color beads. They looked like quartz, transparent with cherry occlusions that made them look very pretty.

I had previously seen and used rose quartz, clear quartz, smoky quartz but not quartz in this color. When I asked the proprietor “what are they?” he answered “cherry quartz.” I immediately bought a few strands.

Over the next year, I didn’t see any other beads like them, which made me happy since I like to work with unique materials. However, when subsequently browsing in a trade magazine, I saw an ad for “man-made Cherry quartz beads.” I realized that the beads I had bought were imitation, made out of glass.

This didn’t change their beauty. I made a long, trendy necklace with them and since I liked it very much and needed that color for a new dress, I kept the necklace for myself! (I really don’t care what material the beads are made of as long as they are beautiful.)

So now you know that, if you see something called a “cherry quartz” necklace, it is not quartz. Similarly, if you see one made out of “Italian onyx,” it is Italian marble, and if you see “new jade,” it is not expensive antique jade but some sort of serpentine that comes from China or other countries and in the trade is called “new jade.”

There is a simple test which can help you decide if the jewelry you own or are considering is made of semiprecious beads. Squeeze the beads in your hand. If they feel cold to the touch, they are the real thing. If you are not sure how cold it should be, hold some plastic, maybe acrylic beads, in the other hand for comparison, you will feel the difference.                   

Dalia      

 

© 2014 Elegant Jewelry by Dalia