How to tell Sapphire from mineral crystals the cheap and easy way!

[Daffy 105]

I wasn't happy with trying the fingernail "trick", or a drop of water placed on the crystal. They didn't seem to be very reliable for me, so I took a trip to eBay. I found a seller within 50 miles that was offering the needed diamond tester, and it was here within two days.

 

Here is the tester I purchased:

 

 

When I turn it on, I set it to one or two places on the LED indicator bar, using the thumb wheel:

 

 

Now to test it on a known mineral glass crystal. Notice that the LED indicator goes out after a few seconds, and this mineral glass shows no reaction:

 

 

Now to test it on a known example of Sapphire, the Steinhart Ocean 2. The LED indicators activate, and hover in the 2-3 yellow bar range:

 

 

It's time to test the two items that I was not sure about. Both of them indicate mineral glass.

 

 

 

Well, that's about it. Pick up one and try it for yourself. I paid $18 with free shipping for this one, but you can find them about half that price if you look around and don't mind waiting for it.

[mysterio 18]

And I thought you had found the holy grail of detection methods without using a diamond tester. You got me to thinking though and I checked out one of those sites which is kinda like an Alibaba of sorts but you can pay cash on delivery in most cases even for imported items such as this one, which is especially nice given that some vendors in these sites have the potential to scam you. Anyway, it's exactly the same model as the one you have for 14$ (though no bag in the description, although do I really need the bag)? Anyway, item ordered, let's see when it arrives. :)

[gavmeister 1]

I have the same tester and discovered a few of my "reps" with sapphire werent sapphire at all.......

[ShovelnTC 31]

Mmmmm, not sure whether to buy one or not........................................may lead to disappointment

[Cubic Hare 494]

TD's description of the 604 you purchased from me states "Synthetic Sapphire" I guess that means rep sapphire?

 

That's a handy tool..

 

Cheers

[Daffy 105]

There were a couple of PAM's in the collection that were supposed to be mineral that turned out sapphire. It's been fun testing things with it.

[purger72 0]

Thanks for the info and pics, good work. Ill get one my self just to try it out on my reps.

[Daffy 105]

And I thought you had found the holy grail of detection methods without using a diamond tester. You got me to thinking though and I checked out one of those sites which is kinda like an Alibaba of sorts but you can pay cash on delivery in most cases even for imported items such as this one, which is especially nice given that some vendors in these sites have the potential to scam you. Anyway, it's exactly the same model as the one you have for 14$ (though no bag in the description, although do I really need the bag)? Anyway, item ordered, let's see when it arrives. :)

 

Make sure you have some fresh 9 volt batteries on hand. The battery included in the package was dead. Deader than dead. They must have filled the case with sand instead of electrolyte.

[Xpletiv 16]

I'll gladly take those abominations off of you in a 2 for 1 deal.

[gmchris 68]

Anyone know how these actually work? Are they affected by AR?

 

[GenTLe 1,501]

Anyone know how these actually work? Are they affected by AR?

 

http://bfy.tw/CIoY

 

[Lagger 160]

Anyone know how these actually work? Are they affected by AR?

 

http://bfy.tw/CIoY

 

Haha,I followed the link and felt like an idiot