Lesson 1 - Buying a Crystal (Step 3 & 4)

 

The previous lessons taught us that establishing the need is the first step in buying or acquiring a crystal and we learned that getting some advice on which type of crystal might be suitable is important.

Now we are at the point where we know what type of crystal we might need and are ready to select one somewhere... but how do we pick a specific one?

In the diamond trade, the merchants have established the 4 C's - cut, clarity, color, and carat - to teach their customers how to see the value in a particular diamond.

They explain how the cut affects the brilliance and beauty, how the clarity allows the diamond to be bright and not dull, how the color affects the desirability, and how the carat weight affects the price.

Now, I am a certified GIA Graduate Gemologist, so I understand how these factors play together on any particular diamond to establish its grade and resulting price.

The same is not true in the rest of the crystal and stone market. There are no "4 C's" or any other agreed-upon grading system for crystals and stones. You are on your own, as is everyone else. The market is wild and unregulated.

While only a few companies control the diamond trade, there are tens of thousands of suppliers of crystals and stones. There is no governing body, no standards, no price controls, and no accepted practices. If the diamond trade is like a modern department store, the crystal and stone business is like a saloon in the Wild West of the 1800s!

This brings us to the third step in buying crystals.

 

STEP 3: DO SOME RESEARCH FIRST.

The good news here is that the internet is a resource that will allow you to very quickly determine the value of any crystal you are considering. There are many dealers, along with sites such as eBay, that list crystals for sale.

Five minutes of comparison shopping will give you a very clear understanding of how a certain crystal is valued in the marketplace.

You buy a crystal-like you buy a used car. You shop around, compare features and prices, and you find some cars that have the features you want at a price you can afford. It takes a bit of work, but wandering a used car lot, not knowing what you want, or how much you should spend is a recipe for disaster.

So too is blindly wandering in a crystal shop. Doing your homework is important.

An example might be helpful.

Suppose you were trying to reconnect with a loved one, You start at the Crystal Vaults’ Crystal Reference Guide but really don’t find exactly what you want to do.

Next, you go to Crystal Inner Circle and search for "reconnect" and in the results, you find the blog post from the Crystal Elixir community, "HERKIMER DIAMOND SACHET FOR RECONNECTING".

In reading it, you decide that the sachet is just what you need. It does call for a Herkimer Diamond so let's find one that will do.

Checking mindat.org, we learn that a Herkimer Diamond is a quartz crystal found in Herkimer County, New York that naturally looks like a diamond. But it is quartz. Good to know.

Now, knowing that you are using the Herkimer Diamond in a sachet, tells you that it doesn’t have to be beautiful. It also doesn’t have to be too large.

A quick search of Google for "Herkimer Diamond sale" will reveal that one about 3/4 inch in length with good transparency can be found on eBay for about $13 and some smaller ones are even cheaper.

With that baseline in mind, you can look at them in any crystal shop or online seller compare prices and quality, and find a good one. You might find one that is 1/2 inch in length with good clarity for $10 and know it is a good value. It would certainly do for making an elixir.

So, now all we need to do is find the right one. Once you have that comparison done, and you know what crystal you need and how much you should pay for it, the next thing to do is find a reputable source.

 

STEP 4: BUY FROM A REPUTABLE SOURCE -Shop for value, not just price 

If we go back to the jewelry trade again, they know that everyone cannot be an expert. Using Warren Buffet’s well-known saying, "If you don’t know jewelry, know your jeweler!" sort of applies here: if you don’t know crystals, know your crystal dealer.

Quite frankly, in both his experience and in ours, it comes down to trust. The reason is simple; the business of selling gems (which are just cut and polished crystals), and the business of selling crystals, stones, and rocks are both ones that have no control over what is done to a crystal to get someone to buy it.

Emeralds are oiled, and many crystals like Sapphires, Rubies, and even Turquoise and common Quartz are made in laboratories. Diamonds have their cracks filled with glass. Fake Turquoise is abundant. Many Tanzanites are just heat-treated brown zoisite.

You get the idea. This list is endless. It is simply impossible to really know and understand all the ways crystals, stones, and rocks are processed and faked in the marketplace. But that does not mean you have to be fooled or cheated.

 

Review

 

While a bit of understanding is certainly worthwhile, the shortcut is to find a reputable source or sources for your crystals. Such a source would have experts, experience, and a following of people who can recommend them based on past experience.

Again, the internet comes to our assistance. Social media, site ratings, reputations, and qualifications of stores and sellers are readily available. Use them.

Find a source that has experts on staff who know crystals and gems. Find dealers that have many products and have many guides available for the customer to teach them how to buy well. In short, buy from reputable, knowledgeable dealers you find you can trust.