He runs an Emerald mine in Brazil and is associating with the owner of an Euclase mine in Rio Grande do Norte. He offered me a large lot of Euclase that included single crystals and some druzy crystals on Quartz. I noted a very cute specimen on matrix. It was a thumbnail but very attractive. It was different from the rest of the lot, and although smaller, it was one of my favorite pieces. I bought the best pieces of the lot. At home, when I started photographing the piece for my website, all the close-ups made me have a weird feeling about it. I started to look very closely and poke it with a needle but it felt very solid, I took a couple pictures more but still, something just didn't feel right. I put the piece under UV light. Not all glue fluoresce, but lots of them do. In this case it didn't seem to fluoresce. Maybe a tiny bit. The most used glues for this kind of "job" are soluble in acetone. I left the piece in a container filled with nail polish remover and covered with a lid for a few hours. When I checked, I started to see an opaque white substance around the junction of the two parts and, poking with a tweezer, I could also feel the texture.
It took me a couple other dips on the acetone to release the two pieces.
Isn't it amazing? I am almost sure that the person that sold me didn't know. Usually this kind of crafty work is made at the mines. I have been seeing more and more of those "matrix pieces", and from now on, I will carry my polish remover to the shows too.
