Guest Author - Susan Dorling

History and Use in Jewelry
Capturing the natural beauty of both sea and sky, Turquoise has been a much admired gemstone since ancient times. Archaeologists in South America discovered a Turquoise bead that has been dated back to 900 B.C. Mined and used as a valuable gemstone in jewelry and ceremonial objects since 5500 B.C. this rich natural treasure has been an enduring symbol of wealth and status.

Worn by the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt in the belief that their sun god Ra’s hair was made of Turquoise, it was widely used throughout the Ancient Egyptian culture. Inlaid Turquoise stones feature prominently in the mask of King Tut, and the mummy of Queen Zer was discovered wearing a gold and Turquoise bracelet. In fact, it was so highly valued in Egypt that when high quality deposits were exhausted, artisans developed a copper glazed ceramic stimulant called faience, rather than leave out the gorgeous sky blue color in their artwork and jewelry.

The ancient Aztec people made death skulls intricately inlaid with hand-cut stones of Turquoise to serve as offerings to Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec serpent god. Turquoise was also worn by Europeans in the Dark Ages in the belief it would save them from falling from horseback.

Turquoise has been a part of Native American jewelry ever since the age of Anasazi. The culture have used Turquoise in combination with silver since 1880. Today Turquoise features prominently in Native American jewelry in traditional and contemporary designs, and is a premium gemstone in fashion with its popularity now at stratospheric levels, due to a combination of some well known modern designers favoring the stone in their designs. More and more non-Native American designers are also using Turquoise and emulating the ancient Persians and the Victorians by setting pieces in gold rather than the traditional Southwestern style’s use of sterling silver.

Elegant and highly collectible, Turquoise grows in value and in Native American jewelry is often used in combination with the organic gemstone Coral, a protein mineral. With its remarkably intense color—light to dark blue and greenish blue to dark green— and gleaming luster, Turquoise is the heart of beautifully hand-made personal adornments including bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pins, watches, belt buckles, hair jewelry, and bolo ties.


Facts About Turquoise: Appearance, Properties, Origin, and Care
Chemically, Turquoise is a hydrated copper/aluminum phosphate, of aggregate, cryptocrystalline structure. Typically, Turquoise is found as an opaque deposit in nodules, or veins within host rocks, or as shallow crusts on the surface of rocks.

The rich and various shades of blue and blue-green to yellowish-green found in Turquoise are the result of copper in the blue shades, chromium or vanadium adds green, and iron adds yellow shades. Turquoise stones are semi-translucent to completely opaque. Only one mine in the state of Virginia has produced transparent to translucent visible crystals and these rare specimens demand a hefty price from collectors.

On the Mohs scale of Hardness Turquoise is a 5 – 6, with 1 being soft like Talc and 10, the hardest, like Diamond. Turquoise has a fair to good toughness and a waxy to vitreous (like glass) polish luster.

When caring for jewelry made with Turquoise avoid high heat and chemicals. We highly recommend you remove your Turquoise jewelry before washing your hands. Perspiration, skin oils, soaps, hand lotions, and cosmetics may turn blue Turquoise into a dark green color.

Major worldwide sources of Turquoise are the Southwestern United States—historically Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado—Mexico, Australia, Iran, Chile, and China.

Turquoise Enhancements, Simulants, and Buyer Beware
All but the highest grades of Turquoise may be ‘stabilized’ by a pressure infusion of wax or epoxy resin. Common enhancements and treatments to Turquoise include dyeing a richer hue of blue or green, dyeing with black shoe polish to enhance the matrix (can be detected by rubbing with acetone), backing with thin pieces of epoxy to add thickness, strength and weight (may separate and may be detected by sight), plastic impregnation, sometimes with dye, improves durability and color (may be detected by magnification and other methods), wax impregnation to improve (may pick up dirt and discolor and may be detected with magnification and other methods like hot point), filling cavities with metal-loaded epoxy to imitate pyrite inclusions, surface coating with epoxy, lacquer, etc. to improve color and seal dye (may be detected with magnification).

One has to be very careful when buying Turquoise. Either be aware of the enhancements and buy in that knowledge, or detect enhancements and move on. With such a bevy of treatments commonly available to embellish and increase the desirability of natural Turquoise, the onus is on the buyer to make sure you are getting the real deal. Some materials that are mistaken for Turquoise or intentionally used to imitate natural Turquoise are glass, dyed Howlite, plastic, Variscite, Amazonite, Pectolite, Prosopite, Serpintine, and synthetic lab grown Turquoise. Particularly be wary of Howlite masquerading as ‘White Turquoise’. Even though Howlite is sometimes sold in its natural state with the misnomer ‘White Turquoise’, there is no such thing as white Turquoise. The only natural gem that could likely be confused as Turquoise is Variscite, which looks similar to green turquoise. Variscite and Turquoise sometimes can occur together in a rock which has been dubbed ‘variquoise’ and which is sold for a premium price for its appealing combination of colors and attractive patterns.

Healing Properties/Chakra
Turquoise is the grounding gem and people throughout history have associated Turquoise with curative powers. It is known as the ‘master healer’, and emanates a purifying energy which helps to dissipate negativity. Native Americans believe that Turquoise on a bow can make the arrow hit its mark every time.

Turquoise serves to strengthen and align the body, bringing communication skills to emotional issues, to creativity, and to intuition, while allowing for the application of love in all issues. Turquoise improves meditation and enhances peace of mind. It has also been known to guide one through the unknown, protecting while promoting ones independence in action.