Artificial or Imitation Turquoise

Welcome back to my blog about turquoise and turquoise jewelry. The last few posts have been about processes that stabilize or harden turquoise stones so they can be used to make jewelry and other items.
Sometimes stones that look somewhat like turquoise are actually turquoise-colored plastic. These stones can be deceptive and can be sold by unscrupulous dealers. They are easily scratched, and their color will fade. They can also melt. They are fine to use if jewelry dealers are up front with their customers and the customer wants a piece of jewelry just for a souvenir at a low price. However, off shore “turquoise jewelry makers” from Korea and other places will set these fake stones in silver settings and try to pass them off as Native American-made. So be careful. Often these stones will appear oily.
Turquoise can be imitated by using other rocks that look a lot like turquoise. Malachite and Azurite are copper ore stones, beautiful stones in their own right, but sometimes passed off as turquoise. Chrysocolla, Variscite, and Faustite are other minerals sometimes used as turquoise. Reputable dealers will let you know exactly what stones are in your new piece of turquoise jewelry.

Reconstituting Turquoise

Last post I told you about stabilizing turquoise with acrylic or some other kind of plastic. Sometimes, if the stone does not have a bright blue or green color, the stabilization may include adding a dye to enhance the color. Many people think this gives the stone an artificial look and some jewelry makers won't use these stones. Sometimes only the matrix is dyed.

Sometimes turquoise stones are so soft they shatter into chips or very small pieces. Or, tiny stones are picked up in the mines or off the ground. These can be ground up, mixed with epoxy, and treated with pressure to form chunks that can be cut and used in jewelry. These chunks are considered a lower grade of turquoise than the stabilized stones, though some jewelry makers will use them. This processing is called reconstituting.

There are also some processes that temporarily enhance the look and color of low grade turquoise. The stones can be heated or saturated in paraffin, polish, oil, silicon carbide, or other things that enhance them. These stones are considered undesirable and many reputable turquoise jewelry makers won't use them because the color will eventually fade.

Next post I'll tell you about (boo, hiss) artificial or imitation turquoise.

Treating Turquoise

Welcome back. I am blogging about what I have been learning about turquoise since my trip to the southwest and the start of my turquoise jewelry website. The history of turquoise is so fascinating and I gave you a small part of its history in previous posts.

People often wonder whether the turquoise they buy has been altered in any way. The answer is probably yes. Turquoise is a soft, chalky stone. Only abour 10% to 15% of it is hard enough to use as it comes from the mine - in other words, gem quality. Anything less will fade in color and shine. Untreated soft stones can absorb oils that can change their color. They could also crack in their settings and fall out.  For the next couple of posts I'll tell you how turquoise is prepared to be used.

The most popular way to prepare turquoise is to stabilize it. This involves subjecting the stones to a clear plastic resin with a lot of pressure. This makes the stones harder and allows them to keep their beautiful color. This process is completely accepted and stones prepared with this process are used for jewelry making all the time. Pieces of jewelry made with stabilized turquoise are less expensive than jewelry made with pure, hard, untreated stones.  However, stabilized stones are just as gorgeous in well made, high quality turquoise jewelry.

More about other treatments at my next post.

I'm so glad you're back. For a few weeks I'm sharing what I have learned about the history of turquoise and how it was used in various countries in the past.

Let's go to China. This huge country started using turquoise to make carvings in the 13th century. They did not mine much of it themselves. They traded for it with Tibet and other countries. Today, much of the world's turquoise comes from China. It is considered good quality and is used in turquoise jewelry.

In ancient Tibet, turquoise was so valuable it was used as money in some parts of the country. Much of Tibet's turquoise is a beautiful shade of green. It was traded with other countries.

Beautiful turquoise has been mined in Turkey for hundreds of years. They traded it with other countries including those in Europe, though turquoise did not really catch on and become popular in Europe until the Renaissance.

Thanks for checking in. Come back next month.

Welcome back. In the next several posts, I will share with you what I have learned about how people have used turquosie through history. It is amazing how versatile this stone can be and how long we have been using it.

Archaeologists have found pieces of turquoise in ancient living and burial sites of prehistoric man in the Western Hemisphere. On the other side of the world, beads dating to between 5500 and 5000 BC have been found in Iraq.

We know the Egyptians loved turquoise because it has been found in ancient tombs. The pharaohs used it in jewelry and to decorate clothing and uniforms. The pharaoh Sesostrias II, who reigned from 1844-1837 BC, had a breastplate embedded with turquoise stones. It is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Turquoise bracelets were found on the mummy of an Egyptian queen from 5,500 years ago. Turquoise necklaces, bracelets, and earrings were made with settings of gold. No wonder treasure hunters have been flocking to Egypt for years!

Come back soon for more countries and their uses of turquoise.

In this post, I thought we would focus on where turquoise comes from. I have learned that it has been mined all over the world, but some places have better quality or color than others. For example, turquoise from Iran is considered some of the most desirable in the world because of its beautiful solid sky-blue color with little or no veining or greenish tint.

This gem forms in arid regions of the world. One of these is the Sinai Peninsula. Ancient Egyptions mined it from here using thousands of men at the sites.

Tibet is known for its turquoise with the earthy green color. Tibitans traded it with the ancient Chinese who did not mine very much in ancient times. Today the Chinese mine a high percentage of the world's turquoise that is used in turquoise jewelry.

Although Australia is known for its wonderful opals, the land down under also mined turquoise. Its mines are in the regions of Victoria and New South Wales in the southeastern part of the country.

The arid desert of the southwestern United States created wonderful turquoise. It was dug with hand tools in ancient times. One of these mines was the Mount Chalchihuitl Mine near Cerillos, New Mexico. There are also smaller mines throughout the southwest in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and southern California where turquoise is still being extracted today. I'd love to visit one of those mines some day.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, Turquoise Tidbits. I fell in love with turquoise when I took a trip across the United States a number of years ago. One of the places we went was the four-corners area of the southwest. We went into a store in Gallup, New Mexico and saw showcases of turquoise jewelry. Most of it was way beyond my pocketbook, but I bought a sterling silver and turquoise ring. Since then I have done some research about turquoise and would like to share what I have learned with you.

Turquoise is a mineral. It is formed when copper salts and iron are trapped in rocks in arid regions of the world. Copper lends its blue colors and turquoise rich in iron has the greens. I have found two scientific names: hydrous copper phosphate and hydrous aluminum phosphate. Anyone know which is right?

This beautiful stone is often thought of as representing the earth: the blue for the sky and green for the earth. Though we associate diamonds with love today, people of the past have believed in turquoise as a love stone. It is one of the gems associated with your 11th wedding anniversary. And it is the birthstone for the month of December.

Over the millennia it has been used to make jewelry, sculptures, amulets, clothing decorations, funeral artifacts, and more. It has even been found on military items such as breastplates and helmets.

More next week.