Hi Everyone: I Purchased a nice oval carved Floral Red Piece of
Coral on Ebay Auction and everything was fine until I opened the
envelope and it was glass. The person that sold it to me advertised
he was a G.G… I called him after close examination of the piece
and told him I found the piece to be Glass and after collecting
carved coral for 10 years I was quite familiar with the look and
feel. I explained that the back had a glass shiney finish w/tiny
pit marks which came from air I guess in the mold. Even when I
tapped on it with my ring it gave off a completely Glass sound. He
appologized and told me to send it back for a complete refund as
he did not have a chance to check it before he mailed it out! I
received a call a week later that the piece arrived and he had 2
colleagues also GG’s check the piece and it was indeed Genuine
Coral! Then he continued to tell me a list of everyones credentials
and how he worked for a gem Lab! I don’t know if there is any Easy
Test for Coral but I do know one thing . THIS WAS GLASS . Coral
being a plant does not have a perfect Glass finish and i compared
it to pieces I have in my collection and when you tap on it with a
ring it didn’t sound like glass. In closing since I would not agree
to accept refund - 10.00 for all his costs etc and explained I
would leave negative feedback finally he finally agreed to send
the refund back, My comment was to him that GIA probably spend a
paragraph or two on coral and being a GG did not make him an
expert on everything! If anyone has a sure fire way to test this
material outside a lab! Please let me know, this was the first time
I ran into this buying many pieces through the mail! Have a Good
Day! Chris http://www.tace.com/glitters