Obsidian is always only found in volcanic sites, and most abundantly in the United States around the volcanic stretches of Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah. One way to ascertain the originality of Obsidian is to inquire about the origin of the rock being sold to you. If you are being sold raw black glass in large cuboidal masses, it is easily a fake. Larger pieces of Obsidian are rare and therefore highly valued. Obsidian fragments typically range from microscopic to many inches across. It is formed when felsic lava, usually ejected as rounded masses from volcanic eruptions, rapidly cools, sometimes as small broken pieces, or as fine, hairlike filaments. This means that when you observe it with the naked eye, you will not be able to detect any individual crystal surfaces spiking out of the rock.Ī real Obsidian mostly has the appearance of smooth, frozen liquid (cooled lava). Obsidian’s crystal formation is amorphous. A conchoidal fracture typically looks like shell-like steps on the face of the glass, marked by concentric curved lines. Fracture is the way a mineral breaks other than along its cleavage directions. The rind is part of the conchoidal fracturing of real Obsidian. If yours has a rind or film over it, it is a good indication that the glass is naturally formed. You can instead look for other visual, physically distinctive characteristics of the Obsidian. A black rock that does not combine colored inclusions with a glassy finish, is a fake Obsidian. Most black minerals found in the environment lack the vitreous luster of Obsidian and appear chalky, or matte. One easy way to tell real Apache tears apart from common black rocks is that the former always have a vitreous luster even when they appear like a rock. The earth has an enormous bounty of black pebbles and rocks, which makes Apache Tears extremely prone to imitations. Most Obsidian varieties are dark, brittle, and heat-sensitive, which makes them an unlikely choice for jewelry and faceting.Īpache tears, however, due to their rounded, pebble-like occurrences are great for jewelry and in healing rituals. Snowflake Obsidians have many uses like they are widely used in jewelry, carved as beads and cabochons, as seen in the adjacent photo.Īnother commonly occurring variety of Obsidian used extensively for lapidary purposes is Apache tears. This, in gemological taxonomy, is called a snowflake Obsidian. Protogenic silica minerals crystallizing inside obsidian are white and resemble snowflakes on the surface of the rock.If your Obsidian has several needle-like inclusions, lending it a silvery sheen, you can be assured that it is real.These bubbles can be seen arranged in parallel arrangements under a microscope. Real Obsidian typically occurs with elongated, torpedo-shaped, round, or teardrop-shaped bubbles. Inclusions in a real Obsidian are easily detectable by holding out the rock in your palm and moving it around. Inclusions refer to any minerals that get trapped inside a mineral as it forms.Ī naturally occurring Obsidian always forms in the presence of a bounty of minerals in the earth’s surface and will therefore always have certain traces of other minerals. If you are fortunate enough to find more than one color in your Obsidian, you likely have your hands on a rather high-quality piece.Īnother frequently searched question is Black Obsidian vs Black Tourmaline, to know click here.You can wet the piece and turn it slowly in all directions so the sunshine will reflect the coloring underneath its black glassy surface.While buying an Obsidian, be sure to hold your piece under the sun and try to locate a spot that shows something more than just black.Real Obsidian, as you can see, especially the stones that are carved, are never perfectly black. A real Obsidian will always have some gold, silver, blue, violet, green, or a combination of these colors, under its black surface, due to the inclusions of minute bubbles that reflect light.This is hard to communicate through pictures, but no naturally occurring Obsidian ever looks like a hard mass of plain black glass. Real Obsidians exhibit some or the other form of iridescence.So if you are being sold such a rock at a modest price, it is most likely a fake. Tinted, man-made glass is often marketed as these rare Obsidians. The most rarely occurring types of Obsidian are those with an overwhelming amount of green, blue or red in them. Obsidian typically occurs in black, gray, and sometimes banded formations with brown streaks.
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