Although Soapstone comes from all over the world, it is primarily derived from Brazil, China, and India.  Some Soapstone comes from Australia, Canada, and Germany as well.  Each area has its own unique beauty and colors. Soapstone, which on the hardness scale is rated at one, compared to a diamond, which is ten, is nonetheless quite hard.  It is also non-porous so it will not stain, like granite or marble.  Water can not penetrate it, nor will it tear apart from freezing.

To determine if the piece that you have in your collection is true Soapstone, and not resin made from a casting mold there are two simple tests that you can conduct.  To determine if your piece is a form of resin or plastic, heat up a standard straight pin, (the pin needs to be red-hot), then push the pin into the bottom of the piece in question.  If the pin melts its way into the material then it is definitely NOT Soapstone.  The other test that you can perform is to scrape some material off from the bottom of the piece.  If it is real Soapstone, these shavings will have no odor and will feel like talcum powder, slippery to the touch.