Goldstone
man-made glass with metallic copper crystals
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass in which metallic copper is crystallised out of the melt under controlled oxygen starvation, a genuinely impressive piece of technology and not a mineral in any sense. The monk-invention story is folklore; the Miotti family has the documented claim. People carry it for courage, abundance and self-love.
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Entirely manufactured: silica, copper oxide and reducing agents melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as the melt cools. The process is credited to the Miotti family of Venice in the seventeenth century, with a later folk attribution to Italian monks. Green and purple variants use chromium and manganese instead of copper.
Mineral facts
Hardness
5-6 Mohs
Formula
SiO2 glass + Cu
Family
man-made
Where it comes from
manufactured, Italy (historic Venice), now principally China and India
What it is
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass in which metallic copper is crystallised out of the melt under controlled oxygen starvation, a genuinely impressive piece of technology and not a mineral in any sense. The monk-invention story is folklore; the Miotti family has the documented claim. It has been sold as sunstone for centuries.
What it is confused with
sunstone, aventurine, carnelian, mahogany-obsidian, bronzite
A transparent reddish-brown glass packed with an extremely dense, perfectly even cloud of tiny flat copper crystals that flash gold from every angle, the sparkle is uniform in size, spacing and colour across the whole piece, which no natural stone achieves. Under 10x the flecks are identical small hexagonal or triangular platelets. Look for round air bubbles, swirl and flow lines, and occasionally a mould seam or a bubble-free 'skin'. Body colour between the flecks is glassy and transparent.
Commonly faked · check before you buy
How to tell
Density and uniformity of the sparkle is the giveaway: goldstone glitters evenly everywhere, sunstone flashes only at one angle from platelets lying in a single plane. Round bubbles under a loupe confirm glass. Goldstone will not show feldspar cleavage steps.
Entirely manufactured: silica, copper oxide and reducing agents melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as the melt cools. The process is credited to the Miotti family of Venice in the seventeenth century, with a later folk attribution to Italian monks. Green and purple variants use chromium and manganese instead of copper.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Goldstone is a man-made, 5-6 on the Mohs scale, and it is the stone traditionally carried when the problem is proximity rather than intensity.
You know what this one would do for you. You just don't have it.
Goldstone for every sign
Aries
The monk story is folklore.
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass, credited to the Miotti family: silica and copper oxide melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as it cools. The monk story is folklore. It has been sold as sunstone for three hundred years and it is still a good trick.
Taurus
Seventeenth-century technology, still working.
Silica and copper oxide melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat, then cooled slowly enough that metallic copper crystallises out of the melt. The Miotti family of Venice has the documented claim and the monks are folklore. Seventeenth-century technology, still working, still sold as sunstone.
Gemini
Every fleck the same size, which nature never manages.
Copper crystallised out of a glass melt in a sealed low-oxygen vat, which is seventeenth-century Venetian chemistry and genuinely difficult to do. The Miotti family holds the documented claim and the monks are folklore. Under a loupe every fleck is the same size, which nature never manages.
Cancer
A family workshop in Venice, not a mine.
The Miotti family of Venice holds the documented claim on the process, and the story about monks arrived later. Copper crystallises out of a glass melt in a sealed vat starved of oxygen, which is why every fleck is identical and evenly spaced. It has been sold as sunstone for centuries.
Leo
The sparkle is too even. No rock is that consistent.
Seventeenth-century Venice, where the Miotti family worked out how to starve a silica melt of oxygen until metallic copper crystallised out of it. The sparkle is identical in size and spacing across the whole piece, which no natural stone manages. Impressive technology, and a mineral in no sense at all.
Virgo
Nothing grown in the ground sparkles that evenly.
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass, documented to the Miotti family, made by starving a copper-bearing melt of oxygen so metallic copper crystallises out as it cools. The monk story is folklore. The sparkle is identical in size and spacing everywhere, and nothing grown in the ground manages that.
Libra
The Miotti family has the claim. The monks are folklore.
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass in which metallic copper crystallises out of a melt under controlled oxygen starvation, which is impressive technology and not a mineral at all. The Miotti family holds the documented claim and the monks are folklore. It has been sold as sunstone for centuries.
Scorpio
It has been sold as sunstone for three centuries.
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass, made by melting silica with copper oxide in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as the melt cools. The Miotti family holds the documented claim and the monk story is folklore. It has been sold as sunstone for three centuries.
Sagittarius
The Miotti family has the claim and the monk story is folklore.
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass in which metallic copper is crystallised out of the melt under controlled oxygen starvation, which is genuinely impressive engineering. The Miotti family has the documented claim and the monk story is folklore. It has been sold as sunstone for centuries.
Capricorn
The Miotti family has the claim. The monks have folklore.
Seventeenth-century Venetian glass in which metallic copper is crystallised out of the melt under controlled oxygen starvation, which is impressive process engineering and not a mineral. The monk-invented story is folklore and the Miotti family holds the documented claim. It has been sold as sunstone for centuries.
Aquarius
The Miotti family has the claim and the monk story is folklore.
Seventeenth-century Venetian technology: silica and copper oxide melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as it cools. The Miotti family has the documented claim and the monk story is folklore. It is not a mineral, though it is impressive glassmaking.
Pisces
The sparkle is real metal, and none of it is a mineral.
Copper crystallised out of a glass melt starved of oxygen, in seventeenth-century Venice, which is a genuinely difficult thing to do on purpose. It has been sold as sunstone for centuries. The sparkle is real metal, and none of it is a mineral.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
fire
Planet
Sun
Chakra
sacral, solar-plexus
Signs
leo, sagittarius, aries
What tradition says
In crystal lore, goldstone is associated with ambition, drive and confidence; as a manufactured material its tradition is craft-historical rather than mineralogical, which is worth stating plainly.
Care
- Water is fine. Dry it afterwards.
- Inert glass — water and salt are fine, though it chips and scratches. Warm water and a soft cloth.
Common questions
What does goldstone mean?
Goldstone is carried for courage, abundance and self-love. Seventeenth-century Venetian glass in which metallic copper is crystallised out of the melt under controlled oxygen starvation, a genuinely impressive piece of technology and not a mineral in any sense.. Tradition links it to the sacral, solar-plexus chakra.
Is goldstone real or fake?
Entirely manufactured: silica, copper oxide and reducing agents melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as the melt cools. The process is credited to the Miotti family of Venice in the seventeenth century, with a later folk attribution to Italian monks.. Density and uniformity of the sparkle is the giveaway: goldstone glitters evenly everywhere, sunstone flashes only at one angle from platelets lying in a single plane. Round bubbles under a loupe confirm glass.. Entirely manufactured: silica, copper oxide and reducing agents melted in a sealed low-oxygen vat so metallic copper crystallises out as the melt cools.
Can goldstone go in water?
A short rinse is fine for goldstone, then dry it.
Common · red-brown with copper sparkle, amber-brown
Where this leads
This stone belongs to
FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND REFLECTION. NOT MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. How this works