How to Tell if Tanzanite is Real or Fake

One common question we get from our customers is how to tell if their Tanzanite is real or fake. But we also get them same type of questions before someone leaves for vacation and is heading to one of the islands where they sell a lot of Tanzanite. Now we would love for you to purchase your Tanzanite from us, but to  help you no matter where you are, we have done a video to show you how to know if Tanzanite is genuine or fake...

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Hi. I'm Steve Moriarty from TanzaniteJewelryDesigns.com. We're located in Crown Point, Indiana, and we have a retail store under the name Moriarty's Gem Art.

Today I'd like to discuss with you a little about tanzanite and just how do you know you're getting a real tanzanite. A very difficult question. There's no easy way for you to tell whether you have a natural tanzanite, because the issues currently are the imitations are very good. And they are imitations, not synthetics, because the stones are not truly manmade tanzanite. They're another gem.

The closest replica of tanzanite is forsterite. It looks much like tanzanite. Then there's also synthetic sapphires that are colored to look like tanzanite. You also have stones that are coated. They put a thin layer of a colored material over the stone, so when you test it, it is a tanzanite, but it has a color that causes the color to be deeper.

So there's a lot of issues with you identifying tanzanite. It comes down to trusting your supplier or getting a certification from the GIA or AGL or the American Gem Trade Association.

We are part of the American Gem Trade Association, and we do our best to represent our material as it is and we provide only natural stones. So unfortunately, there is no easy way for you to identify the stone, but trust in us. We're at TanzaniteJewelryDesigns.com. Thank you.