The meaning of blue aventurine: choice, properties and secrets of the starry sky stone. How to distinguish natural aventurine from its imitation Test aventurine stone at home

Another popular stone, about which we can say that we are more accustomed to seeing its imitations than real natural samples, is aventurine. A rare counter with jewelry will do without it, even if this counter is located in some seedy market or in an underground passage. However, we can say with all confidence that the aventurine we will see on it is fake. At the same time - here is a paradox - the eye is so accustomed to the characteristic appearance of a fake stone that doubts about its naturalness usually do not arise at all. On the contrary, I just want to say: “Yes, yes, everything is fine, this is exactly what aventurine looks like!”

Well, let's start to figure it out. Moreover, this topic once touched me personally. It was like this: at the age of 15, with the first income in my life, earned during the summer holidays by selling newspapers, I bought all sorts of things, including green aventurine beads in the most “serious” jewelry store in Nizhny Novgorod. The decoration was not luxurious in design, but I still liked it for a long time was a favorite. The too “correct” and bright stripes of glitter on the lower surface of the central pendant confused me from the very beginning, but I could not even think that what they actually sold me was not aventurine, but so-called aventurine glass. Unfortunately, this is exactly what turned out to be the case. This did not make me stop loving my beads, but it completely convinced me of the need to carefully check the stones even in the most sophisticated shops.

Natural aventurine stone is one of the varieties of quartzite, that is, a rock mostly formed by granular particles of quartz, and also containing some other inclusions (hematite, mica, goethite...), in the form of small scales and due to this glistening with light sparkles against the background of the overall tone of the stone. Aventurine happens different colors- brown-yellow, grayish-green, dull blue, red-brown, occasionally with light milky zones. Sometimes it is slightly translucent, but only with a small cutting depth - a few millimeters.

Aventurine has been mined and valued for a long time; it occupied a special place among stones, for example, in India and China, and is found in significant quantities on our planet in the most different places: in Australia, and in Europe, and in Asia, and in the USA, and in the countries of South America, and here, in Russia, in the Urals. Except that for the African continent there is practically no mention of aventurine deposits (although at least in Tanzania there is one), but it was there, or rather in ancient Egypt, that a glass imitation of aventurine was first invented. The secret of its production was lost over time, and by pure chance it was reinvented by skilled glassmakers from the Italian island of Murano in the 16th century. Then one of the craftsmen spilled copper filings with the molten glass mass and got spectacular sparkles in the thickness of the glass. The idea was appreciated, and since then they continue to make aventurine glass in considerable quantities, in our times constantly and completely shamelessly passing it off as a natural stone, which, by the way, is not even that expensive, but on the shelves in comparison with its glass “brothers” it is found in times less often.

It must be said that to distinguish real aventurine imitation of it is not easy, but very simple! To understand this issue, let’s go “by contradiction” and first consider popular fakes, and then admire different varieties natural stone. I specially made a selection of photographs so that you have no doubts. There are several types of aventurine glass, and they all look quite characteristic - even the tone is always the same, standard.

Aventurine glass of the first type - These are the familiar reddish-red opaque “pebbles” (beads, pendants...) with golden sparkles generously scattered over the surface. They have a characteristic bright, eye-catching shine, a little reminiscent of tinsel on Christmas tree. It may “lie” unevenly in some places, but usually it is quite even and intense. In general, this and other imitations of aventurine are quite decorative in themselves. But you shouldn’t indulge unscrupulous sellers who claim that these pieces of glass grew in the bowels of the earth. How to engage in such conversations yourself. Jewelry with such inserts or beads is usually inexpensive, but if you have enough imagination, you can always encounter unpleasant exceptions with an exorbitant price for a cheap imitation. So keep your ears open. Among the trade names, the most common formulation is “aventurine “Golden Sand”, which, of course, is in no way legal.

Second type of imitation , in order to again powder the brains of the admiring public, in the trade they are usually called this: aventurine “Sky of Cairo”. Glass, of course, will not become an adventurer from these beautiful metaphors. It is a deep blue color with silver sparkles. It also looks very decorative and is regularly found on sale.

Third type - the same one that I once got unknowingly in a Nizhny Novgorod jewelry store. It is the least likely to come across on sale and, perhaps, the most interesting in appearance: dark green with bright sparks that also appear green. For reasons unknown to me, these sparkles often fall in even stripes (in my case they were visible on the back of the pendant, and there is also such an example in the collage). This, of course, leads to fair thoughts about the man-made origin of the “stone”.

The fourth type of imitation aventurine - mixed. In the literal sense of the word. They take pieces of the mass (crushed glass - possibly waste) of “Golden Sand” and “Cairo Sky”, mix them heartily and fuse them into a single mass, without overheating too much so that the pieces do not lose their clear boundaries. The result is colorful beads and other jewelry raw materials, still stuffed with sparkles. It already looks a little strange, although, in general, it is still quite decorative, if we discard associations with natural stone for good.

And finally, fifth type is created according to the same principle as the previous one, only here simple opaque white glass is mixed into pieces of “Golden Sand”. The taste and color, as they say... Honestly, the result in this case looks very weak and cheap. But it also finds its buyer, although I personally have only seen it in photos and not on store shelves. Which, in general, is quite fair.

What do all of these types of simulations listed above have in common? How is their artificiality clearly visible? In standard, even shades, in the excessive and also very even “shine” of sparkles and inclusions. For two-color options - in a “chipped” structure, which natural stone(I’m talking about aventurine now) does not occur at all. This is something that is easy to notice even for a beginner, and at the same time it is quite enough to distinguish real aventurine from an imitation.

Natural aventurine has much more delicate, varied shades, often quite delicate, even pastel, although there are also dark brick and other darker varieties. The sparkles most often turn out to be not just weaker and duller, at times in some areas of the sample they are almost not visible at all. And most often they spark in such a way that memories of fresh metal shavings do not arise. As always, Nature creates much more subtle and perfect things than humans.

These photos show pieces of natural blue and green aventurine. Feel the difference!

And here is the natural aventurine that can be purchased most often now. It can be milky-golden, honey-colored, red, reddish, or brown; often changes background color even within one small pebble. The same goes for sparkles - in some areas they are brighter, in others they are completely “melting”, and in some places they completely disappear. Such aventurine is most often polished into cabochons. I also had to work with it (as well as with plain aventurine glass, which, by the way, I also love and respect - but I would never even dream of passing it off as a natural stone). Is it possible to compare these two materials? Now, after looking at these photos, you will never confuse them either.

Moon pendant made by me with natural aventurine. 2016

Tasha.

Photo by Tasha and from the Internet.

Sudogda, April 3, 2018

Aventurine is semiprecious stone, which is a fine-grained variety of quartz interspersed with flakes of hematite and mica. The color of aventurine can be very different: pink, yellow, green, brown, cherry. There are specimens in blue and black. The color of the stone and its sparkle largely depend on the composition of the inclusions and the deposit.

They learned to counterfeit aventurine back in Ancient Egypt; skilled glassblowers added copper filings, cobalt and chromium oxides to molten glass.

What does aventurine look like?

It is not difficult to distinguish natural aventurine from a fake. An excessive abundance of sparkles and their uneven arrangement indicate a fake. Natural stone is not very bright and does not have a strong shine, while fake stones sparkle and shimmer in the light. In the glass imitation, the scales are arranged chaotically, and areas without sparkles are visible. Real stone It has a uniform structure and a dull color; it is translucent.

Aventurine stone lends itself well to processing and is used for making various products: beads, brooches, pendants, handles for cutlery. Inserts into silver and gold are made from it. Aventurine jewelry has always been popular among high-ranking people.

Aventurine medicinal properties

IN medicinal purposes It is recommended to wear aventurine on your neck or wrist. It is believed that the stone helps in the treatment of bronchitis and allergies, promotes wound healing, alleviates cardiovascular diseases, and stabilizes blood pressure. It is useful to massage with balls made from this mineral.

Aventurine magical properties

Aventurine magical properties manifests itself during the waning moon; during the waxing moon, the stone should rest. The stone gives its owner self-confidence, helps to quickly find a solution in difficult situation. He charges with optimism and loves change. The mineral is believed to help in love. .

Green aventurine is suitable for people with mental work and helps to concentrate. A stone of yellow, red, brick color promotes good luck in business and trade.

Aventurine is often used in.

On our website you can also find out and. About how modern jewelry appeared. you can find out in our article.

Read about the symbols used in jewelry in our article.

Read about other natural stones and for jewelry in our articles:

Aventurine photo

Imitation of aventurine. How to distinguish a fake.

Aventurine- the concept is more industrial and jewelry than mineralogical. The fact is that this name is applied to both rocks and some minerals. It is usually called fine-grained quartzite, which has a characteristic shimmer that turns into iridescence, clearly visible on the polished surface of the sample. A similar effect is also observed in some feldspars (oligoclase) and crystalline quartz, and also rarely in beryl. This optical effect is due to the presence of parallel-oriented flakes of hematite or muscovite mica in reddish-brown aventurine, and flakes of fuchsite mica in green aventurine; yellow, white and even blue varieties are also noted. A similar effect was observed in the aquamarines of Sherlovaya Gora, where hematite inclusions were observed in the hollow channels of the crystals.
Imitation aventurine
An excessive amount of glitter usually indicates imitation. In glass imitation, the scales can sometimes be unevenly distributed, and zones of colored glass with a reduced glitter content or without them at all can be observed.

Sometimes you can come across such a term - AVENTURINE GLASS (or adventure glass). This is a glass imitation of aventurine quartzite, which is obtained by adding copper and iron oxides (red-brown “aventurine”) and chromium oxides ( green), cobalt oxides (blue). Blue glass can be almost black with blue or green "sparkles". As a rule, this is sold in our stores under the name “aventurine”. So always check with the store what they offer.
The color of natural stone is white, light gray, honey, pink, brick, cherry, green. Saturated colors are not uncommon, but sparkles in natural aventurine are rare. Samples of natural aventurine can be quite inconspicuous, or luxurious, iridescent, multi-colored and shimmering minerals with golden sparks.
Distinguish between aventurine glass and natural not just - they are identical to each other, the only difference can be that aventurine glass has an excessive amount of shiny inclusions. In natural aventurine stone, this shiny pollen (sparkles) is not so pronounced. Aventurine glass has a more uniform color and smaller brightly shiny inclusions, almost evenly distributed over the surface, but at the same time there can be glass with zonal distributions of the clustering of sparkles - a zone of frequent inclusions and a zone almost without them. Sequins in glass have the correct geometric shape of a triangle, square, hexagon, but on stone they have different sizes and different intensity of sparkle.



One more thing important difference -aventurine glass has much lower hardness than stone, therefore, it is easy to leave a scratch on it with a piece of quartz, which is almost impossible to do on stone. Modern aventurine glass differs from natural aventurine in its lower hardness, the presence of regular trigonal or hexagonal inclusions of copper shavings, and octahedral copper crystals. In glass imitation, the scales can sometimes be unevenly distributed, and areas of colored glass with a reduced content of glitter or without them at all can be observed. Most often, glass imitations are golden brown or blue-black in color with an abundance of bright and beautiful scales. This is the brightest aventurine, natural aventurine is often much paler in color.
There is also AVANTURINE SHINE - this is a mineral of the feldspar group with inclusions of hematite and goethite flakes (in potassium feldspar and oligoclase) and ilmenite, magnetite, native copper (in Labradorite); its synonyms: aventurine (feldspar), aventurine labradorite, adventurine, heliolite, sunstone. Please note that natural stones are very rare. Basically, it's an imitation. An excessive amount of glitter usually indicates a fake. Sometimes a natural mineral, unlike synthetics, can exhibit weak iridescence (glow, iridescence), while synthetic aventurine can simply shine very much. Most imitations today are made of glass various quality with various additives (such as Savrovsky stones, glass rhinestones, black and golden aventurine, colored cat eye, dairy moonstone, green chrysoberyl, opal glass and others).

Gemological specimens are mined in the vicinity of Ballari in India, Russia (Siberia, Altai, Ural), Tibet and Tanzania. In Russia, aventurine is mined in white, light gray, honey, pink, brick and cherry colors.
Natural colorstone white, light gray, honey, pink, brick, cherry, green. Saturated colors are not uncommon, but sparkles are.
This is what this gemstone looks like
Brown


Gray and blue




Green

Raspberry and pink



Hematite

golden sand

All information was obtained on the Internet.

• Aventurine. How to distinguish a fake.

  Imitation of aventurine. An excessive amount of glitter usually indicates imitation. In glass imitation, the scales can sometimes be unevenly distributed, and zones of colored glass with a reduced glitter content or without them at all can be observed. This is what they usually sell in stores...

With the development of technology and science, scientists have learned to imitate natural stones. They can be grown in laboratory conditions, or made from glass, plastic and other materials. Of course, no one respects himself jewelry store will not deceive you and will indicate on the tag what you are dealing with. But a completely different matter are scammers who can pass off a fake as a natural mineral. This also applies to aventurine, which is popular among lovers of jewelry and simply natural crystals. How to avoid falling for deception and distinguish fake aventurine?

Signs of natural stone

The signs by which natural aventurine is identified can be divided into certain characteristics:

• color;
• flicker intensity;
• shine;
• uniformity of color;
• shape and saturation of glitter;
• hardness;
• density and transparency.

Let's consider each characteristic of natural aventurine separately:

1. In nature, aventurine is formed in only a few shades: red-brown, brown, gray-yellow, green, black, blue. Moreover, the colors, as a rule, are not bright, but paler, even slightly cloudy.
2. The shimmer is unevenly distributed throughout the stone.
3. The gloss is matte and greasy.
4. The color is uneven. In some minerals there may be slight tints of other colors, for example, brown with slightly reddish inclusions or green with whitish streaks.
5. The saturation of sparkles in the gem is very weak. It is most clearly expressed in stones of dark shades.
6. The hardness on the Mohs scale is 7 points, which means that the mineral can easily scratch glass.
7. Natural aventurine is a dense stone, due to this it is practically not translucent, even in sunlight.

Another characteristic of a natural mineral is its special property – iridescence. This is an optical effect that appears as a rainbow-colored shine on even chips of a gem, especially after polishing it.

Signs of a fake

Is it possible to identify a fake aventurine without special tools? It is possible if you pay attention to details. Especially considering that this is quite easy to do. What you should pay attention to first of all, and what signs immediately indicate that this is a fake:

1. Variegated rich shades, bright colors.
2. Homogeneous uniform color.
3. The presence of intense glitter. In addition, if you look at the stone through a magnifying glass, you will notice that the sparkles more or less repeat the same geometric shape. As a rule, it is a rhombus, a square, a circle.
4. The fake has a strong shine, which is accompanied by a perfect and dazzling shine.
5. Price. Natural aventurine is a rather rare phenomenon in nature, which is why its price is often high. If you are offered a mineral at a low price, explaining this as some kind of promotion or sale, then be sure that they want to deceive you and this is a fake.

Good afternoon, dear friends! Our article today is dedicated to aventurine - the ruler of the souls of fashionistas and fashionistas of past centuries. They say that Queen Cleopatra and her lover Julius Caesar admired him. However, despite its advanced age by human standards, this stone still delights us with its beauty and grace. It is its enchanting unearthly beauty that makes dishonest people look for an opportunity to imitate it. We will talk further about how to distinguish aventurine from a fake.

Getting to know the uniqueness of the mineral

So, what is aventurine and what does it look like? Aventurine is rock, formed by fine-grained quartzite with inclusions of flakes of goethite, hematite, as well as micas such as biotite, muscovite and fuchsite. It is thanks to them that aventurine looks like the starry sky of an unknown planet.

If you ask why unknown, we will answer that:

• The color of aventurine ranges from greenish blue to chocolate brown. Agree, our sky is different from the colors stated here.
• Another recognizable feature of aventurine is its cluster of scales, similar to star clusters such as Messier 7 or Touca. It is this extraterrestrial shine that artisans of all stripes and ranks are trying to reproduce.

Aventurine's adventurous past

The history of attempts to imitate aventurine began in Ancient Egypt. And the results were not bad at all. However, for reasons unknown to us, the technology was lost. Perhaps this was due to the pharaohs’ fear of counterfeiting the “Divine Stone of Ra”.

The second discovery of the imitation was the fall of copper filings into the vat of a glass blower from the island of Murano. This happened in the 16th century and since then aventurine has acquired a new name that we love so much.

Learning to distinguish aventurine from a fake

Much water has passed under the bridge since then. But attempts to create an artificial analogue of aventurine do not stop. How to distinguish a fake from the original? To do this, we need to remember several constants that determine genuine aventurine.

• The first constant is shine. If the sample offered to you has a very high concentration of blisters, you can say with 99.9% confidence that it is a fake. To create it, so-called “aventurine glass” is used. During its manufacture, small particles of copper, chromium, iron and cobalt are placed into the molten glass mass. They, in addition to directly creating a stellar shine, also participate in giving the glass the color required by the glassmaker. For example, copper gives glass a reddish tint, iron gives it a brownish tint, chromium gives it a greenish tint, and cobalt gives it a deep blue tint.

If you make a complex introduction of these metals, the effect will be stunning! We will see glass that looks no different from natural stone. However, a real connoisseur will immediately understand that this is a fake. If you also want to gain the knowledge of an expert, then…

• The second constant is the gloss density. In natural aventurine, the sparkles are unevenly spaced. This is due to the fact that aventurine, being a natural stone, has a granular structure. The flashing elements are located in the intergranular space and cannot be distributed evenly.

As for glass, as you probably remember from your school physics course, it has an amorphous structure, as a result of which particles can accumulate locally where the glassmaker needs it. To do this, you only need to make a few movements, driving the particles into the required area.

• The third constant is the form of blisters (glitters). If you look at aventurine glass through a magnifying glass, you will notice the geometric similarity of each element. Most often this is:

1. triangle;
2. hexagon;
3. circle.

If we talk about real aventurine, then, as a rule, the particles in it different shapes and luminous strength. This is due to the fact that genuine shine is created by several types of blisters at once. (We remind you: we call blisters inclusions various kinds mica, as well as small crystals of goethite and hematite).

• The fourth constant is hardness. To find it out, we will have to use the Mohs geological hardness scale. Thanks to it, you can easily determine the approximate affiliation of a mineral to a particular group. The scale is conventionally divided into 10 classes (degrees) of hardness. At the same time, talc, used as powders and additives to tablets, occupies 1st place in it. Diamond, as the hardest mineral on our planet, represents class 10 on the Mohs scale.

But let's return to aventurine. It is confidently located in the hardness zone 7. Glass, on the other hand, occupies only 5th position in this scale. In other words, the hardness of genuine aventurine is 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of aventurine glass.

Now let's talk about what these hardness numbers give us. If we have natural aventurine and its artificial counterpart in brilliance, we can conduct the following experiment. Let's take a stone and try to draw a line with it on the surface of aventurine glass. The line will be clear and obvious. Glass will not leave any marks on the surface of the mineral. If we do not have genuine aventurine, and it is necessary to verify the authenticity of the proposed sample, we can use minerals that have the same degree of hardness as aventurine. This is primarily quartz (rock crystal), as well as garnet and tourmaline.

Reasons for imitations

Unfortunately, gone are the days when it was possible to discover a treasured gemstone on a simple path. But the population of our planet is increasing. And along with him, his need for the “star stone” grows. The mineral is used to create jewelry such as brooches, beads, earrings, rings, and pendants. More massive objects of art are not currently produced from this mineral. This is due to the fact that this stone is rarely found in the form of large formations (a formation is considered large if its dimensions are at least half a meter in diameter).

Interesting fact

In the 18th century, aventurine was discovered on the territory of the Southern Urals, the dimensions of which made it possible to carve three vases from it, each of which was 146 cm high and 246 cm wide. One of these vases is still in the State Hermitage Museum (city) . Saint Petersburg).

What to choose: aventurine or aventurine glass

If you set out to purchase jewelry made from real aventurine, you should be prepared for the following:

1. its color will not be bright (most often aventurines have a weak color of the grains);
2. blisters of natural aventurine are located unevenly in space and differ in the degree of gloss;
3. Large formations of aventurine are rare, and, therefore, the price of products made from it is high.

Now regarding aventurine glass. Although it is a counterfeit of aventurine, it also has its advantages:

• The first plus is the price. Compared to the cost of natural aventurine, the cost of its analogue is relatively low.
• The second plus is the color scheme. Thanks to modern advances in glassmaking, the creators of aventurine glass can give it any color required by the customer.
• Plus the third is the brightness of the shine. If you want to get a piece of jewelry that resembles the light of distant stars, you should also consider aventurine glass. The fact is that in the original the sparkles are scattered chaotically and rarely form “star” clusters.
• Plus the fourth - sizes. Due to the low cost of star glass and the ease of its processing, you can order products from manufacturers, the size of which is limited only by the capabilities of your wallet. It could be a perfume bottle for your beloved woman or your statue in full height. It's up to you to choose.

Future prospects

Everyone knows that scientific and technological progress is not used to standing still. That is why attempts to recreate the structure of the “adventurous” mineral will continue.

According to the information we have, experiments are currently being carried out on fusing quartzite grains with the addition of blisters found in natural stone. If the experiment is completed successfully, then soon we will gain artificial stone, not inferior to the best (jewelry) examples of the original.

You saw a photo of the mineral in the article, but there is also a video that shows the original and fake aventurine next to each other, which helps to clearly understand this issue:

Well, we talked about aventurine and how to choose it. In other articles on our site we will tell you about:

• fire opals;
• sun and moon stones;
• petrified wood;
• marble onyx;
• jasper;
• and other equally amazing stones.

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