Marlborough racing tips

Beware of Fakes and Disinformation of Marlborough Chrysoprase

If you are a green stone fan, the chances are that you have come across the highest valued chalcedony of all time – chrysoprase. Mined initially in Poland, chrysoprase today can be found in many other parts of the world, including Tanzania, Brazil, the United States, Russia, and Australia.

Australia recently is known for its gem grade material, mainly grades sourced from Marlborough, Queensland in a remote part of the state, a couple of hours drive up north from Rockhampton. The terrain is rough, experiencing high temperatures around the 30 to late 30 degrees Celsius for the most of the year.

Undoubtedly the best chrysoprase source in the world, Marlborough chrysoprase is rivaled by other sources of chrysoprase all vying for the lucrative share of the gem market.

Marlborough chrysoprase is characterized by the apple and peppermint greens devoid of black dendrites and is found mainly in vugs and seams in the rough. The rind of the “skin” of the barbarian is usually a whitish color due to the silcrete cap, which helps protect the core to keep its nickel content and hence it’s color. Marlborough chrysoprase also tends to command a higher price for their green rock.

For this reason, I have noticed a recent increase in several sites and traders selling chrysoprase cabochons, rough, and jewelry as “Marlborough chrysoprase” and a noticeable number of articles submitted by various websites about the unavailability of the Marlborough rough. One website I know even stated that the wild is not made available to the general public and the other writes that the mines closed down way back and that they were no longer mining. Both these claims from these sites are entirely untrue.

As far as I am aware, both mines are operating at full steam ahead; one is based in Hong Kong and sells mainly to China, and the other is an Australian operation selling to everyone else.

Interestingly though, recently it seems that the market’s thirst for the great green has not only resulted in disinformation, but also in recent times I have seen an incredible number of fakes, quartz injected with a color shot of chrome, plain colored glass, or acid bleached amazonite made to look like chrysoprase, all selling for the same Marlborough price. I have noticed this, particularly in the last gem show in Shenzhen and many parts of China where we frequent but also recently in internet trading. Prominent pieces to us which looked nothing like chrysoprase were being sold for a hefty price.

There is even a photo of a chrysoprase cabochon showing the chrome coloring using the Chelsea/ jadeite filter on my site for those who might be interested in a vision of what to look out for.

Interestingly 20 years ago, chrysoprase was worth a fraction of the price it commands today and continues to rise each year in price. Marlborough gem grade chrysoprase is extremely rare and worth quite a bit of money, one of the many reasons for a rising number of substitutes, fakes, and misrepresentations in the marketplace.

If you are interested in genuine chrysoprase from Marlborough or Western Australia, do come and stop by our website; we have chrysoprase rough, cabochons, jewelry and carvings available for sale soon. We are very active on Facebook and have created an Australian Chrysoprase group that will provide more information and discussions on the green front.