Just like diamonds, crystal quality varies drastically from different retailers. After all they are semi-precious stones. This is why you find price differences in each shop for similar stones. It is about the clarity, cut, carat and colour. For us at Tali & Loz, making sure you get the best crystal quality is one of our top responsibilities. The quality of your crystals is not only a matter of the material, but the ethical considerations and guidelines, and the environment and method they were sourced in. This guide will explain a few important topics regarding crystal quality and explain how we choose our supplies in order to help you have a better idea when you make your purchases.
Did you know: They have grades
If you have never seen a crystal quality grading system, it might seem a bit strange. You will see a variety of types of grading such a 'AAA, AA, A, B, C, D or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, going up to 10th grade.
It is actually up to the miners themselves if they use the alphabetical system or the numerical system. When mined, each batch might contain crystals of various crystals. For example, they might mine 1000kg of Amethyst but end up with 10 different grades of crystal qualities. It is a huge task for the miners to check each item, grade the quality and price it accordingly.
They grade them according to the clarity, cut, carat and colour, but rarity also plays a big part as well. Some crystals might only be found in certain areas or be inaccessible due to weather considerations. That can happen during the rainy season, when it is impossible to enter a mine, hence it is more difficult to get them and their value increases.
Clarity is an important factor when ascertaining the quality of crystals and it is also broken down into a few factors, For those that are more transparent you might see some small flaws in them, like little air bubbles or cracks in the crystals themselves.
Of course, there are a lot of opaque crystals as well but even they, vary in clarity and some are brighter than others. A great example is Obsidian, where some crystals can look a bit dull and others very shiny.
They are not all ethically sourced
We at Tali & Loz are firstly prioritising that our crystals are ethically sourced. We only work with suppliers that dare to say they are specifically working with ethical miners. Yes, unfortunately there are still a lot of unethical mining practices going on like child labour for example. Suppliers that can prove they are only selling ethically sourced crystals are unfortunately in the minority. This makes it more difficult for us to find certain cuts or even crystal species.
Crystal grades affect vibrations
Crystal quality does not just affect the value but the strength of the vibrations as well. So, when you are buying crystals for healing and meditation work this is one of the main reasons you should be paying close attention to the quality.
After the ethical statements we would always choose the highest grades possible. It is a very unpredictable market, sometimes we can get our hands on a AA grade batch of something, but if they have sold out it can take time for those to come back. So we would choose a lower grade but nothing less than B grade or 2nd grade. The clearer the crystals are, the higher vibrations. This is not to say never buy D quality, ultimately it is about what vibration does for you. And D quality still can be ethically sourced.
If any of our grades have changed we will of course change this on our website, so what you see is what you get.
Hand or machine mining?
This is another ethical question that comes into play when discussing crystal quality. While there is no right answer, we prefer to work with supplies that value hand mining over machine mining.
Simply this causes a lot less collateral damage to the environment but also with hand mining damages the crystals are less likely to be damaged by aggressive mining.
So how about rough stones?
Rough stones work in the same way, but their natural shapes also affect their
grading. If a rough stone has a very natural complicated shape which you don’t find often the grading will reflect this.
Summing Up
In conclusion, we find it very important to give our customers the opportunity to receive ethically sourced and high-grade crystals with strong vibrations. The quality of crystals is affected by a wide range of factors, like the way they are mined, the rarity, and the specifications. We always try our best to get the highest grades depending on availability and can answer any of your questions.
If you have any questions on particular crystals, don’t be shy. Contact us! We are always happy to help you learn more about the wonderful world of crystals.
Love & Light, Laura
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