Where do Crystals Come from?
Part 3 of 5 Part Series on Understanding Crystal as a Material
Many different countries produce crystals of all kinds of quality. The following are some of the more notable countries of origin:
The highest quality I have seen is from Swarovski, which has their factories based in Austria. They have precision cuts that increase the sparkle dramatically, a high lead content, and are the most expensive crystals on the market.
If you are looking for totally acceptable quality at a lower cost, I would suggest Egyptian crystals. I’ve handled and worked with Egyptian crystals from the company Asfour and I think they are still very eye-catching while being an economical solution. The crystals have over 30% lead content and that characteristic rainbow shine. Maybe the cut is not as sharp as Swarovski’s, but the crystals are still cleanly cut and capture light excellently. A word of caution though, that at least the 8mm rounded crystal beads from Asfour are machine cut, and maybe one in a ten is slightly asymmetrical. I haven’t noticed this kind of cutting issue with the company’s larger crystals (French Cut ones are all perfect), which I believe are also machine cut—I think it is an issue only for the very small, faceted pieces.
The cheapest and lowest quality crystals come from China. A warning about Chinese crystals: they really aren’t worth it, no matter how low the cost, just don’t bother. Often, they have no lead content at all (some dealers lie about this fact), and worst than that, they are not even made of high quality glass. Many pieces will have obvious imperfections, such as white spots within the crystal , or a general murky gray tint in the glass (a sign of many impurities). Also, since they are machine cut, they are often inaccurately cut or unintentionally asymmetrical, which not only means the bead is ugly, but also means that it cannot sparkle like it is supposed to. DO NOT buy Chinese crystals!
For lead-free crystals, look to Austrian (Swarovski/Strass) crystals or Turkish crystals (more discussion about lead free crystals in this article: Isn’t Lead Poisonous?).
So many different qualities of crystal from so many countries!--but how can I tell that it's real lead crystal and not glass on my own? (Part 4)
Sources:
Personal Experience
http://www.cristalier.com/
http://www.chandelierparts.com/aboutourcrystal.aspx
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