Well, I THINK it was a real Alexandrite, and someone who knew stones told me it was. I use to buy things in lots. For instance, I would buy old wrist watches from a jobber. Some worked, most didn't, some were junk, but sometimes you found a real good one thrown in the lot. I would repair them, shine them up, replace a cracked crystal, etc, then resell them. Made a fair amount of money doing that. I would also buy stones the same way. I would buy a bag of stones, usually semi-precious and just plain stones like crystals, turquoise, some of those kind of things. But every now and then you would find a real diamond, emerald, ruby, alexandrite ! I first noticed the alexandrite because it changed color on me, had someone take it to a jewelry shop and the word came back that it was an alexandrite. In both cases, with the watches and the stones, whenever I found something in the lot that was really good or real I assumed that someone along the line had made a mistake and the really good things got in there by accident. Anyway, I have two man made alexandrite rings now and they just don't have the same luster and color that my original one did. I keep looking in pawn shops hoping someone is ignorant enough to not recognize what they have ! Jack Childers in OKC