Hi guys,

I'm completely new to Go and recently purchased a set of stones that came in grass bowls with the word "Yunzi" on them as well as a little round paper with all kinds of Chinese (?) characters (the bowls)

I'm wondering if what I have are real Yunzi stones or glass stones?

I payed 56 Euros for them so I expected Yunzi. With the black stones if I hold one up to the light, the entire stone is green, perhaps they used bottle glass for the stone?

I also have some chipped white stones, the part that's chipped looks like chipped glass.

Is there any way to tell if I have real Yunzi stones or glass ones?

Real Yunzi is very similar to glass, in fact it IS a sort of glass, just with some different rocks and minerals mixed in. Mine just look mostly black and white, though a few of the black stones have a few flecks of bright green material

The black ones are supposed to look green when you hold them up to the light. That's one of the things we love about Yunzi...the kids who come to my Go club meetings never fail to all want to look through one when they hear about it. ^^

Usually, regular glass stones will be very smooth and shiny, and the black ones are opaque, while Yunzi stones have a matte surface that does not shine in the light, at least unless you oil them.

'Real' yunzi are made by the Yunnan Weiqi Factory. These characters should be on the paper you got somewhere: 云南围棋厂

I don't know of any way to test whether you have counterfeit Yunzi or not. But yours sound like Yunzi to me.

I would even go as far to say that they ARE glass

Most might say ceramic though (there is a technical difference between ceramic and glass -- but they're both made from some formulation of molten silica)

Thanks for convincing me that they are real I'm having blast just putting them on the board and touching them

Ah, the joy of a new set of Go stones! Actually, I've had my Yunzi stones a couple of years now, and I'm still in love with them.

sorry for not saying thanks! Thanks for your amazing help