Natural stone, glass, or dyed: how to tell what you are buying
Most beaded jewelry sold online is one of three things: natural stone, treated stone, or glass. The words on the listing do not always match, and the price is not a reliable guide either.
Here is what you can check yourself.
Uniformity is the tell
Natural stone is not consistent. A strand of rhodochrosite bands differently on every bead. A strand of natural lapis has flecks of calcite and pyrite in some beads and not others. Jade comes in a range of tones even within one strand.
If every bead is identical in colour and pattern, you are looking at glass, resin, or dyed stone. There are exceptions, and they are expensive. Uniform natural stone exists in high-grade material at prices that most bead jewelry does not reach.
Look for bubbles
Glass has air bubbles. Hold a bead up to a light and look inside. Tiny round bubbles are conclusive, because stone does not form them.
Bubbles are easier to see on lighter stones. On dark obsidian it can be hard, which is why a jeweller's loupe or a phone camera zoomed in helps.
Weight and temperature
Stone is dense and feels cool against the skin at first. Glass is lighter and warms up faster. Resin feels warm immediately and is noticeably light.
This is a rough test, not a precise one. Two bracelets of the same size in different materials differ by a few grams, which is hard to judge by hand.
Common treatments, and which are fine
dyed agate is everywhere and it is not automatically a scam. Agate takes dye well, the colour is stable, and the result is a clean-looking bracelet at a low price. A seller who says "agate" without saying "dyed" is not lying, though they are not being precise either.
Heat treatment is standard for citrine and amethyst and does not damage the stone. Irradiation is used on some coloured stones and is standard in the trade.
Glass sold as stone is the thing to watch for. That is a misdescription, not a treatment.
Ask three questions
What is the stone called, and is the colour natural or enhanced? Is it a single mineral or a trade name for a mix? What is the bead size in millimetres?
A seller who answers all three clearly is usually selling what they say. A seller who answers with adjectives rather than facts is worth avoiding.
The price signal, with a caveat
Rhodochrosite, lapis, and high-grade jade cost more than dyed agate by a wide margin. If the price is very low for a stone that is normally expensive, the material is probably not what the listing claims.
The caveat is that handmade labor varies enormously, and a cheap bracelet can be honestly made from cheap stone. Price tells you about materials. It says less about whether the piece is good.
What matters more than the test
A $15 dyed agate bracelet worn daily for two years is a better purchase than a $200 natural stone bracelet that lives in a drawer. Buy the piece you will wear, and use these checks to make sure you are not paying natural-stone prices for glass.
Proyoo lists the stone and treatment for each product, including where a colour is enhanced rather than natural.
