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Dyed Howlite and Magnesite Sold as Turquoise: How to Tell the Difference

By Digital Towns Crystals · Last reviewed October 8, 2026

Short answer: a large share of cheap "turquoise" beads, tumbles and carvings are white howlite or magnesite soaked in blue dye, often with dark veins that copy turquoise matrix. The dye usually sits near the surface, so a white core shows in drill holes, chips and scratches. Magnesite is noticeably heavier than turquoise, howlite is much softer, and both read lower on a refractometer. A perfectly even sky blue at a bargain price is the first warning.

How do turquoise, howlite and magnesite compare?

These three materials can look nearly identical after dyeing and polishing. Their physical properties do not. The table pulls the figures from Geology.com, the International Gem Society and webmineral.

Property Turquoise Howlite Magnesite
Chemistry CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O, copper aluminum phosphate Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5, calcium borosilicate MgCO3, magnesium carbonate
Natural color Sky blue to green White with gray or black veins White to gray
Mohs hardness 5 to 6, lower if porous 3 to 3.5 3.5 to 4.5 (some sources to 5)
Specific gravity 2.5 to 2.9 2.45 to 2.58 3.0 to 3.2
Refractive index 1.610 to 1.650 1.586 to 1.605 1.509 to 1.700 (strong birefringence)
Reaction to dilute acid None useful None useful Powder fizzes in 5% HCl

Two numbers do most of the work for a buyer. Magnesite's specific gravity of 3.0 to 3.2 is clearly above turquoise, so a magnesite strand feels heavy for its size. Howlite's hardness of 3 to 3.5 is far below turquoise, so dyed howlite scratches and dulls quickly.

Why do these two white stones make such good fakes?

Both are cheap, white, fine-grained and porous, and both often carry dark veins that look like the spiderweb pattern in some turquoise.

Howlite

Howlite is a borate mineral named after Henry How of Nova Scotia, who first described it in 1868, according to webmineral. It forms nodules in borate deposits and arid regions. The International Gem Society notes that California produces abundant nodules up to several hundred pounds, as at Lang in Los Angeles County, and that Nova Scotia yields small ones. The same source is blunt about its main commercial use: howlite is frequently dyed blue to resemble turquoise and makes a most convincing simulant. Natural howlite is chalky white with gray or black veins and sells as itself in tumbles and carvings; the howlite guide covers the undyed stone.

Magnesite

Magnesite is the bigger player today. Geology.com says white magnesite is porous and can reliably absorb dye to produce almost any color, and that magnesite dyed a turquoise color has been a disclosed and undisclosed substitute for turquoise for nearly 100 years. The EPI gem laboratory in Germany goes further: it says colored howlite is hardly ever used anymore, because the raw material is rare, and that dyed magnesite has replaced it. So the "dyed howlite" in a modern bead bin is very often magnesite.

How is the fake made?

The process is simple, which is why it is everywhere.

  1. Cut and shape white nodules into beads, cabochons, tumbles or carvings.
  2. Dye in a blue or blue-green bath. Because the stone is porous, the color soaks in, but on most pieces it penetrates only part way.
  3. Add matrix if needed. EPI describes how matrix can be imitated with ink or black cement pressed into cracks: the stone is dipped in a tar-like substance, then ground and polished so the dark material stays only in the cracks and hollows.
  4. Stabilize with resin or wax for shine, the same finishing used on much real turquoise.

The result is uniform, bright and cheap. Geology.com notes that dyed howlite and magnesite are almost ubiquitous in the marketplace and advises caution with turquoise of a wonderfully blue and very uniform color.

How can you tell dyed howlite or magnesite from turquoise?

Run the non-destructive checks first. Stop when the answer is clear.

  1. Look into the drill holes and crevices. On beads, the walls of the hole are the least dyed surface. A white or pale ring at the hole, or white showing in a chip, points to a dyed white stone. Real turquoise is colored throughout.
  2. Study the color and veins with a loupe. Dye often collects darker along veins and cracks and sits paler on smooth areas. Real turquoise color varies gently across a stone, and natural matrix is rock: brown, black or golden, often with a little relief. Matrix that looks like black lines drawn into recessed grooves may be the cement fill EPI describes.
  3. Weigh it in your hand against a known piece. Magnesite's higher specific gravity makes it feel heavy. A proper specific gravity test settles it: EPI notes that density often gives a useful hint for separating turquoise from treated material and imitations.
  4. Swab with acetone on an inconspicuous spot. Geology.com says many dyes used on magnesite can be scrubbed off with nail polish remover, so a blue cotton tip is a strong sign of dye. A clean tip proves nothing, because stabilized material and some dyes resist solvents.
  5. Check hardness on the back, only if you own the piece. Geology.com notes that scratching the material with a hardness pick or nail can remove the dyed surface to expose bright white magnesite below. Howlite, at 3 to 3.5, marks with a copper coin or steel very easily.
  6. Use a refractometer if you have access to one. In Geology.com's turquoise article, howlite reads 1.586 to 1.605 and turquoise 1.610 to 1.650, while magnesite shows a strong birefringence blink.
  7. Acid confirms magnesite, destructively. Geology.com notes magnesite powder fizzes slowly in room-temperature 5% hydrochloric acid. This is a lab-bench test, not a shop test.

What do the labels and trade names mean?

Several names surround these materials. EPI lists the ones to watch:

  • "Turquenite" or "Turkenite": dyed magnesite, calcite or rarely howlite. EPI says it is more often sold simply as turquoise without further comment.
  • "White turquoise" or "white buffalo": undyed white magnesite or howlite. Geology.com calls "white turquoise" a misnomer for magnesite cabochons.
  • "Neoturquoise", "Viennese turquoise", "Reese turquoise" and "Gilson turquoise": EPI says these trade names wrongly contain the word turquoise and have nothing to do with genuine turquoise.
  • "Stabilized" and "reconstituted" turquoise: real turquoise impregnated with resin, or crushed and bonded. These are treatments of real turquoise and are covered in the guide to stabilized and reconstituted stones.

U.S. rules are clear on the core issue. The FTC Jewelry Guides say it is unfair or deceptive to use the unqualified name of a gemstone for any product that is not in fact a mined stone of the type described. Dyed magnesite sold as "turquoise" fails that test. Sold as "dyed magnesite" or "turquoise-color howlite", it is an honest product.

What does real turquoise look like?

Knowing the genuine article makes the fake easier to spot. GIA explains that turquoise forms in dry, barren regions where acidic, copper-rich groundwater seeps downward and reacts with minerals containing phosphorus and aluminum, giving a porous copper aluminum phosphate. GIA names the Nishapur district of Iran as the traditional source of the top robin's-egg blue. In the United States, Geology.com notes that the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Arizona is known for light blue turquoise without matrix, while much Kingman material is bright blue with a black spiderweb. Real stones vary from one bead to the next; perfect uniformity across a whole strand is a factory trait.

Choosing howlite and turquoise look-alikes in our Market

The honest way to buy these materials is under their own names. We sell undyed howlite, and natural blue stones that are not turquoise and are not dyed:

  • Howlite (small piece): white howlite as it comes from the nodule, the raw material behind most blue "turquenite". Useful as a reference: note the chalky white body and the gray veins that the dye later turns into fake matrix.
  • Howlite (larger piece): a bigger example for comparing weight and texture. Howlite is soft, so keep it away from harder stones.
  • Chrysocolla: a natural copper silicate whose blue and green comes from copper, like turquoise's, with no dye involved. Expect mottled color, not a uniform tint.
  • Larimar: naturally blue pectolite from the Dominican Republic, with white patterning that is part of the stone rather than painted in.

If you are buying turquoise elsewhere, ask three questions: what is the material, is it dyed or stabilized, and where was it mined. A seller of real turquoise can answer all three.

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Frequently asked questions

Is dyed howlite fake turquoise?

It is a real mineral sold under the wrong name if labeled turquoise. Dyed howlite is legitimate when sold as dyed howlite. It becomes a fake only when the seller presents it as turquoise, which the FTC Jewelry Guides treat as deceptive.

Will dyed howlite or magnesite fade?

Often, yes. The dye sits in the pores near the surface, so wear, sweat, cosmetics and solvents can lighten it, and chips expose the white stone below. Keep dyed pieces away from acetone, alcohol and long soaks in water.

How can I tell if turquoise is real without damaging it?

Look in drill holes and chips for white, check the matrix with a loupe, compare weight against a known piece, and look for natural variation across a strand. For certainty, a gem lab can confirm with refractive index and specific gravity, which needs no damage.

Is white turquoise real turquoise?

No. Turquoise owes its color to copper, so true white turquoise does not exist in the trade sense. Material sold as white turquoise or white buffalo is usually magnesite or howlite, sometimes with natural dark veining.

Why is magnesite used more than howlite now?

The EPI gem laboratory reports that colored howlite has largely been replaced by colored magnesite because howlite rough has become scarce. Magnesite is plentiful, takes dye evenly, and can be given an imitation matrix.

Sources