Condition in minerals is mostly about damage and intervention, and both have to be said rather than photographed around.
The three words
Natural — as it came out of the ground, cleaned at most. Use it only where you can support it. Treated — dyed, heated, irradiated, stabilised, coated, reconstituted. Normal, and declared. Repaired — reglued, a reattached point, a filled crack. Common in larger specimens and always declared.
Damage, located
Chips, bruises, cleaved faces, scratches, missing terminations, contact points where the specimen grew against something else. Say where each one is rather than describing them in general.
Photograph the damaged side deliberately. A specimen shown only from its best face reads as a specimen with a worst one.
Cleaning
Say what you did. Acid cleaning, wire brushing and ultrasonic cleaning all change a specimen, and collectors want to know. Some minerals should never be washed at all.
What to state alongside condition
- Species, with your confidence in it
- Locality, or that it is unknown
- Weight and dimensions, measured
- Matrix — on matrix, removed, or a cut base
- Sensitivities — soft, water-sensitive, light-sensitive
What not to write
Anything about what the stone does to a person. Not in the condition section, not anywhere. Describe the mineral; let the buyer bring their own reasons.
Questions people ask
Is a contact point damage?
No, it is how the specimen grew. Say which is which, because a buyer cannot always tell from a photograph.
Does a repair destroy the value?
It lowers it and it is perfectly normal in big pieces. Hiding it is what destroys the sale.
How do I describe colour honestly?
Photograph in daylight, show it turned, and say if it looks different under a lamp. Naming the flaw raises the price.
More: condition words across every category, buying minerals.