Most people who use the word “alabaster” are talking about two completely different stones without realising it. If you are buying a lamp or a candle holder, the difference matters — it changes how the piece behaves, how it glows, and how you should look after it. Two stones, one name European alabaster, the kind carved in Italy and used across Renaissance sculpture, is gypsum. It is soft, chalky, and typically opaque to milky white. Egyptian alabaster is calcite — a different mineral entirely. Geologists often call it travertine or...
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