How Rudraksha, gemstones, crystals and organic gems are tested and identified — written by the laboratory, for anyone who wants to understand what they own.
The Mohs scale ranks scratch resistance. Why labs almost never scratch a stone, what hardness actually proves, and hardness versus toughness.
A report describes one specific article. How to confirm your bead or stone is the one on the card — weight, dimensions, photograph — and normal tolerances.
Open marketplaces and auctions concentrate the risks of anonymous sellers, copied listings and short returns. What to check and what to avoid.
Malachite's green banding is copied in resin and pressed powder. How genuine malachite is identified by weight, structure and UV, and how to care for it.
Lapis is a rock of lazurite, calcite and pyrite. How it is separated from dyed jasper, sodalite, reconstituted material and glass.
Lab-grown diamond is diamond, so standard tests cannot separate it from mined. How HPHT and CVD growth work and the screening methods that do.
A tour of the testing bench — balance, microscope, refractometer, polariscope, dichroscope, spectroscope, UV and X-ray — and what each answers.
Imitation pearls are coated glass, plastic or shell beads. The drill-hole, surface, weight and structure checks that separate them from nacre.
What happens when you scan a report card's QR code, why the PIN matters, what the online record shows, and what to do if it does not match.
How certificates are forged, altered and transferred — and the checks that expose each: register verification, matching, and the details forgers miss.
Pearl, coral, amber, shell and bone cannot be identified by RI alone. The structural, density, UV, X-ray and spectroscopic methods a lab uses.
From the Arthashastra and ratnashastra texts to the refractometer and X-ray: how gem testing in India evolved and what the modern lab inherits.
Rudraksha above 14 mukhi are rare, expensive and the most carved category. What genuine high-mukhi beads look like and why an X-ray is essential.
Hessonite is orange grossular garnet with a swirled treacle interior. How it is separated from spessartine, orange zircon, citrine and glass.
Most ruby and sapphire is heated. What heating changes, why it must be disclosed, the microscopic evidence a lab looks for, and the limits of detection.
Goldstone is man-made glass with copper flakes, often sold as sunstone or aventurine. How it differs from the natural stones and how each is identified.
Glued beads make convincing Gauri Shankar, Trijuti and high-mukhi fakes. What the seam shows under magnification and how the X-ray exposes the join.
Lead-glass filling turns fractured, near-worthless corundum into transparent 'ruby'. Why it changes value and durability, and how a lab detects it.
The laboratory examines Rudraksha, gemstones, malas, bracelets and crystals and issues a numbered, PIN-protected report you can verify online at any time.