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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Gemstones and Minerals
❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here
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<blockquote data-quote="user 4386" data-source="post: 652259" data-attributes="member: 4386"><p>Hardness is your main clue to differentiate some red stones such as garnet 6.5 - 7.5 and true ruby 9 (very different), Specific Gravity and other properties don't help much. Ruby spinel 8-8.5 is much more difficult to distinguish from true ruby as their hardnesses are closer.</p><p></p><p>In general, I find that hardnesses above 7 are tricky (quartz is 7, topaz 8, corundum 9, diamond 10). If you can get small pieces of these minerals it is easy, although it is handy to have a pointed edge. I lashed out and bought a hardness testing kit like this:</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.mineralab.com/HardnessPicks/#:~:text=Four%20double-ended%20picks%2C%20color-coded%2C%20with%20eight%20points%20comprising,a%20hardness%20value%20of%202.5%20and%203.5%2C%20respectively.[/URL]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="user 4386, post: 652259, member: 4386"] Hardness is your main clue to differentiate some red stones such as garnet 6.5 - 7.5 and true ruby 9 (very different), Specific Gravity and other properties don't help much. Ruby spinel 8-8.5 is much more difficult to distinguish from true ruby as their hardnesses are closer. In general, I find that hardnesses above 7 are tricky (quartz is 7, topaz 8, corundum 9, diamond 10). If you can get small pieces of these minerals it is easy, although it is handy to have a pointed edge. I lashed out and bought a hardness testing kit like this: [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.mineralab.com/HardnessPicks/#:~:text=Four%20double-ended%20picks%2C%20color-coded%2C%20with%20eight%20points%20comprising,a%20hardness%20value%20of%202.5%20and%203.5%2C%20respectively.[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Gemstones and Minerals
❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here
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