Crystal Treatment & Disclosure Guide
At OOAKSTONES, we believe transparency is more useful than absolute claims.
Crystals and minerals can pass through many hands before reaching us — from miners and local traders to cutters, exporters and wholesalers. Information about a material's identity, origin and treatment is often passed along with it, and that information is not always complete or correct.
Sometimes even the person who first extracts a material may not know exactly what they have found.
This is why we don't rely solely on a supplier's description when presenting a crystal to you.
Our Approach
When a piece arrives at OOAKSTONES, we consider the information provided by our supplier alongside our own examination, experience and research.
Over the years, we have corrected material identifications provided by suppliers and identified treatments that were not originally disclosed. This has happened with materials sourced from different parts of the world and is not necessarily an indication of dishonesty — crystal and mineral identification can be complex, and information can change as material passes through the supply chain.
We see our role as the final gatekeeper before a piece reaches you.
When we know that a treatment has been used, we disclose it.
When we have reasonable evidence that a treatment is present, we disclose what we believe has been done.
And when we do not know, we do not pretend to know.
What “None Known” Means
When you see:
Known Treatment: None Known
this means that no treatment has been identified or is currently known to OOAKSTONES.
It does not constitute a laboratory guarantee that a material is completely untreated.
Many treatments require specialist gemological testing to detect conclusively, and such testing is neither practical nor proportionate for every crystal or piece of jewelry.
“None Known” is therefore deliberately different from saying “Untreated.”
It tells you what we know without claiming certainty that we do not have.
Understanding Our Treatment Terms
Heat Treated
The material has been exposed to controlled heat to alter or enhance characteristics such as color. Heat treatment does not necessarily make a crystal synthetic — the underlying material may still be natural.
Stabilized
A substance, commonly a resin or polymer, has been introduced to strengthen a fragile or porous material and improve its durability. Stabilization can also make some materials more suitable for cutting, polishing or use in jewelry.
Dyed
Color has been introduced artificially to change or enhance the appearance of the material.
Irradiated
The material has been exposed to radiation to alter its color. Irradiation may sometimes be combined with heat treatment.
Coated
A substance or thin film has been applied to the surface to alter color, lustre or appearance.
Reconstituted
Fragments or powdered natural material have been processed and bonded together to create a new solid material.
Synthetic / Lab-Grown
The material has been created artificially rather than formed in nature, while having essentially the same chemical composition and crystal structure as its natural counterpart.
Composite
Two or more materials have been joined or combined to create a single finished piece.
Treatment Suspected
We have observed characteristics that suggest a treatment may be present, but we do not have sufficient evidence to identify the treatment with reasonable confidence.
Cutting and Polishing
Cutting, carving, drilling and polishing are not classified by OOAKSTONES as crystal treatments.
They describe how a natural material has been shaped into a finished object.
A polished crystal, sphere, carving or bead may therefore still show:
Known Treatment: None Known
while its product description or Material Details explains that the material has been cut and polished.
Where stabilization, dye, heat or another treatment has also been used, that treatment will be disclosed separately when known.
Natural Does Not Always Mean Untreated
A treated crystal can still originate from natural material.
For example, heating natural quartz does not turn it into synthetic quartz. Treatment changes or enhances certain characteristics of the material; it does not necessarily change whether the original material formed naturally.
For this reason, we prefer to tell you what the material is and what we know has been done to it, rather than reducing crystals to simply “real” or “fake.”
Our Disclosure Standard
Our product information represents our best knowledge at the time the piece is listed.
Mineralogy and gemology are fields in which identification methods, treatment techniques and available information continue to develop. If we later obtain reliable information that changes our understanding of a material, we will update our description accordingly.
Our principle is simple:
We report what we know, disclose what we can identify, and do not claim certainty where certainty isn't possible.