01Decisive
Put two beads together
Hematine beads cling to each other with an audible click. Natural hematite beads do not interact at all. This is the whole test and it needs no equipment.
Hematite · Lovenhall Stone
How to Identify 'Magnetic Hematite' (Hematine)
Not hematite. A synthetic ferrite manufactured to be strongly magnetic.
Brazil, England (Cumbria), the Lake Superior region, Australia
Hematine — also sold as magnehematite or simply magnetic hematite — is a synthetic barium or strontium ferrite, manufactured specifically so that it will hold a magnetic field. It is made to look like polished hematite and does so convincingly, which is why the name stuck.
The separation is trivial and instant: natural hematite will not hold a paperclip and two natural beads will not stick together, whereas hematine beads snap to each other audibly. The streak test confirms it — hematite streaks red-brown, hematine grey to black.
It is worth being clear that this is a naming problem rather than a value fraud. Hematite is an abundant iron ore and cheap; nobody is losing money on the mineralogy. What matters is that a buyer who wanted a mineral has been sold a manufactured magnet.
Model-specific checks
What decides a 'Magnetic Hematite' (Hematine)
These apply to this model and not to the rest of Hematite. Work them alongside the maker's general checks, not instead of them.
02Decisive
Streak it and expect grey
Manufactured ferrite streaks grey to black on unglazed porcelain. Natural hematite streaks red-brown without exception, whatever its surface colour.
The market
What a 'Magnetic Hematite' (Hematine) does on the secondary market
A few dollars a strand. A manufactured product with no mineral value.
An orientation for honest, unrestored condition — never an appraisal, and never a quotation.
Questions we are asked
- Is magnetic hematite real hematite?
- No. 'Magnetic hematite', hematine and magnehematite are synthetic barium or strontium ferrites manufactured to hold a magnetic field. Natural hematite is only weakly paramagnetic — it will not hold a paperclip, and two natural beads will not stick to each other.
- Is hematite magnetic?
- Barely. Hematite is paramagnetic, so a strong neodymium magnet may produce a faint tug, but it will not pick the stone up or hold a paperclip against it. Strongly magnetic grey beads are either magnetite, which streaks black, or a manufactured ferrite.
All the Hematite checks
Free tools of the room
Lovenhall StoneRead the stone itself
The tests tell you what it is. The instrument reads a photograph and offers a name to start from — then hands you back to the tile and the coin, which are what settle it.
Free on iPhone & iPad. An estimate, never an appraisal.
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