Opaque emerald and rhodolite

[darkblue]

Hi, I’m new to gem collecting (still young lol, uni student). I bought some cheap(er) stuff on eBay to see if I could identify the stones and tell if they’re different from what the seller claimed ie, if they’re fake. I also bought some stuff from multicolour to use as comparison but I don’t have it yet.

Anyway, I got two of my eBay treasures today:
0,89 ct rhodolite garnet for 3,90 USD
8,20 ct emerald for 5,50 USD

I think the red stone is indeed rhodolite. It’s kind of purplish. I did not expect it to be so transparent. I put it over a piece of paper with text and could see right through. There is a big inclusion. How do you tell the difference between rhodolite and ruby? (Though I don’t have a ruby for comparison.) I tried shining a bright light through it, but I can’t really see the yellow or green that some website said you’re supposed to be able to see when you shine a light through a garnet.

I don’t really know if the green stone is an emerald. I scratched a glass vase with it and left an engraving. I tried to use it to scratch the rhodolite, but it didn’t work, even when I pressed hard. I used the side of the rhodolite to scratch the emerald and it worked when I pressed hard enough. That’s what made me think it probably wasn’t an emerald. I’ve also never seen an emerald completely opaque like this; it looks almost marble-like. The stone is actually paler than in the picture. I wanted to ask what you guys thought about what the second stone might be.

I would appreciate any observations, advice, or knowledge.

Thanks

 

[chrono]

Ok, the first thing I plead with you, is to stop doing is scratching your stones. If proves nothing whatsoever and will most likely damage both objects only instead.

Red stone
Probably rhodolite, which comes in various hues. The redder ones are far more expensive than the brownish version. Yes, there is a giant window, which is why you are able to read text through it. I'd say to stay with less expensive stones for now because ruby is out of your budget unless it is completely junk quality.

Green stone
The emerald is most likely as stated by the vendor. It looks opaque due to the lower quality (heavily included), in line with what you paid. This is what I was referring to when you asked about rubies in your price range..

 

[darkblue]

Thanks for sharing this information.

Well, I didn't think scratching was going to really prove anything, I just thought the red stone might have been glass because I honestly didn't know they could be so transparent. (The picture above is what was listed on eBay. There's some sort of thing on the top left, I thought that was an inclusion, but I'm probably wrong.) I didn't really expect anything besides that one thing was supposed to scratch the other. I mostly wanted to see what would happen.

Yes, I don't have the money to buy anything high quality, so I guess I'm not really starting a collection to keep any time soon. I just wanted to get a couple of different stones to look at up close and touch in real life so I could to try to learn about them, so I really do appreciate you sharing your advice.