There are a lot of liars on eBay! That's why I put in my own optics lab, so I could verify the stones were accurate.

If you don't buy from china, you have a better chance of getting good gemstones. More likely, the lions share of listings from china, are lies....

The most reliable Gemstone sources on eBay, are from Thailand.

Mho Hardness test sets are not expensive, and a good scale should be under $30. The scale will let you calculate the specific gravity of the stone. with hardness and specific gravity, you can identify a lot of stones.

Casting in place is a good option, and your clay is fine enough to do it!

Keep on casting...and posting of course.

💗🤠💙👍🤕😃