As with most popular or valuable objects, fake “geodes” have been manufactured by people and offered for sale as naturally-formed objects. If you are a collector paying serious money for a spectacular geode, you need to know enough about geodes and the mineral materials that occur in them to spot a fake. Expert gemologists, mineral collectors, paleontologists and others who buy expensive specimens are regularly fooled by fakes.

The accompanying photo shows a fake geode bought in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was being offered as a galena-filled geode. However, the body of the geode was made from a pottery material with a coating of fine galena crystals glued on to simulate a druse. Many highly skilled artists in Morocco make a living producing imitation mineral and fossil specimens.