How Can You Tell if Meteorite Jewelry is Real?
What could be more remarkable than a piece of jewelry made from meteorite? This beautiful material is from out of this world and billions of years old, but how can you be sure the meteorite in a piece is real? There are a few things to look for.
Distinctive Pattern
Widmanstatten pattern is distinctive, and one of the easiest ways to identify iron meteorites. These long nickel-iron crystals are a function of millions of years cooling in vacuum, and are a tell-tale sign that a piece of iron is likely extraterrestrial in origin and from a meteorite. These patterns are difficult to duplicate without blowing up a planet and waiting millenia, so they serve as a very strong indicator!
Real Meteorite is Magnetic
Since iron meteorites are primarily iron, the material is magnetic. Lots of other sources of iron and steel are also magnetic, but it’s just one more little detail that can indicate a piece’s composition.
Real Meteorite Rusts
As we mentioned in our guide to meteorite ring care, the iron composition of meteorite makes it susceptible to rust. A small area of rust or oxidation appearing overtime is normal and easily alleviated by simply wearing the ring or using mild household cleaners like CLR. But if you’ve ever gone for a period time without wearing the ring, or accidentally taken it in the pool or ocean and found that no rust appears, well, there’s a good chance it’s fake.
Carefully Consider the Source
And certainly buying from a reputable source that states the type of meteorite on the receipt is another way to be certain your meteorite ring is truly out of this world! At Chris Ploof Designs, we opt for pieces of the Gibeon meteorite, and put every piece through a rigorous inspection process to ensure it’s suitable for usage in jewelry after the long and difficult journey it had to make it to our planet. For every slab that makes it into our line of rings, we reject countless others.
Needless to say, such a rare and exquisite material comes with costs, including the labor involved in vetting each piece and ultimately making it into a ring. So if you ever see a “meteorite ring” being sold in an online shop for $49.99, it can be safely assumed to not be authentic.
