The Any Rock Identifier Blog
Field-tested tips on identifying rocks, crystals and minerals — spotting fakes, telling look-alikes apart, and what AI can and can't do from a photo.
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Not sure which article you need? Three common situations, and the shortest path through each:
- “Is this thing even real?” Start with how to tell if a crystal is real, then — if it glitters gold — rocks that look like gold. For a specific pair of suspects, the side-by-side comparisons settle it fastest.
- “I found something outside.” Where to find crystals covers the legal and practical side of collecting; how to identify a geode is for the suspiciously round, heavy ones; and the what-kind-of-rock-is-this tool gives you a first answer from a photo.
- “I'm new to crystals.” Crystals for beginners is the on-ramp, types of quartz explains the family you will meet most often, and the field guide has the full 126-stone reference.
11 August 2026
How to Identify a Meteorite (and Rule Out a Meteorwrong)
Almost every rock people bring to a meteorite lab turns out to be slag, magnetite, hematite or iron ore. Here is the test order that separates the real thing from a meteorwrong, and the one test that actually confirms it.
Read article27 July 2026
Rock Tumbling for Beginners: What Actually Works
Four stages, roughly a month, and one rule most beginners break: never mix hardnesses in the same barrel. Here is what to tumble, what to skip, and why batches fail.
Read article26 June 2026
Where to Find Crystals: A Beginner's Rockhounding Guide
You can find crystals and interesting rocks in creek beds, road cuts, mine tailings, beaches, deserts, and fee-dig sites — wherever you have permission. Here's where to look, what to bring, and the rules that keep it legal.
Read article26 June 2026
Types of Quartz: The Complete Variety Guide
Every major quartz variety in one place, split into the visible-crystal types and the microscopic chalcedony family, with what gives each its color.
Read article26 June 2026
Rocks That Look Like Gold: Real Gold vs Fool's Gold
Most gold-colored rocks are pyrite, mica, or chalcopyrite — not gold. Here are five quick tests, led by the streak test, that settle it without a lab.
Read article26 June 2026
Raw Crystals: What They Are and How to Identify Them
What "raw" really means, how rough crystals differ from tumbled ones, and the habit, matrix and quick tests that let you identify an uncut specimen.
Read article26 June 2026
How to Tell if a Crystal Is Real vs Fake
The fast at-home checks that separate a genuine crystal from glass, dyed stone, and clever fakes — plus the eight specimens that get faked most.
Read article26 June 2026
How to Identify a Geode: 5 Signs Before You Crack It Open
A geode is a hollow rock lined with crystals inside. From the outside it's a round, bumpy ball that feels lighter than it looks. Here are five signs to spot one before you crack it open.
Read article26 June 2026
How to Cleanse Crystals (Safely)
Two things people mean by "cleanse" — washing off grime and clearing energy — and the stones that water, salt, or sunlight will quietly ruin if you get it wrong.
Read article26 June 2026
How Accurate Is AI at Identifying Rocks?
We tested our tool on 76 specimens through the live site, including 41 chosen because they are easy to mix up. Every result it labelled Confident was correct — 22 out of 22. Across all 76 it was right about two thirds of the time, and it lowered its confidence on the rest instead of guessing. Here are the real numbers, including a claim we had to withdraw.
Read article26 June 2026
Crystals for Beginners: Where to Start
A no-nonsense starter list: seven beginner crystals that are cheap, easy to find, and hard to fake — what each is traditionally associated with, how to shop without getting scammed, and how to keep them clean.
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