Sets

Table kit, then shelf kit

Loupe and Mohs for a piece you have not named. Stand and box after you have. Color is last. That is the set. Quartz is Mohs 7. Fluorite is Mohs 4. Do not mix them in one rattling drawer.

Identification pair

A 10x triplet loupe is the first object. You need it to see striations, cleavage, and whether a face is a growth face or a break. A cheap 5x reading glass will not do that job. The Mohs kit is the second object. It scratches. Color does not. Hematite can look silver in the hand and still streak red. Pyrite streaks greenish-black. Quartz streaks white. If a vendor names a stone by color alone, run habit and streak before you accept the name.

A 10x triplet loupe to see striations and breaks. Get this.

Amethyst, citrine, and rose quartz are the same SiO2 species with different trace chemistry, not three minerals. A purple bag labeled amethyst can still be glass. Glass often shows bubbles. Quartz usually does not. The loupe is how you see that. A Mohs point near 7 will scratch glass. Fluorite at 4 will not. Keep those two facts on the table before you buy a stand.

A Mohs kit. Color does not scratch. Get this. A streak plate if the vendor named the stone by color. Get this.

Do not mix hardness

A fluorite octahedron in a drawer of quartz points will lose edges. Calcite cleavage at Mohs 3 will powder against quartz. The identification pair is for a piece you have not named. Do not buy a stand first and a loupe later. Name it, then park it. Mohs runs 1 talc through 10 diamond. This set only needs the points that sit near quartz and fluorite. You are not buying a museum kit.

Display pair

A stand keeps a cube off quartz points. A labeled box is the drawer version of that job. Label the species, not a shop adjective. Keep fluorite away from quartz. Keep a point off a calcite cleavage. A Riker mount is the flat version of that labeled box: glass lid, cotton, a pin if the piece is small. It is not a healing tray. It is a lid so the piece stops migrating.

A stand after the species is written down. Get this. A Riker mount if you need a lid, not a healing tray. Get this. A labeled box so hardness grades stay apart. Get this.

If that is still the missing pair, Get this kit.

Order of purchase

Loupe. Mohs. Streak plate if color is the only name you were given. Stand or box after the species is written down. A long-wave UV light is a later fluorescence check, not a first purchase, and it is not a healing lamp. Shop stills sit on Shop and Goods. Compare the tools on Compare if you only want one kit this week. Kinds of quartz stay on Kinds. A fridge magnet is a different object and does not belong in this drawer.

Packed kits sit on Kits. When to identify versus when to display sits on ID kit vs display stand.