What is the healing power of turquoise?
What are the healing properties of turquoise gemstone: Physical healer; Turquoise is a stone of strength, good for fatigue, despair, panic attacks and depression. It improves psychic and physical immune systems, and supports the absorption of nutrients, viral infections, and alleviating pollution. Turquoise is an anti-inflammatory and detoxifying stone, which also helps in reducing excess acidity and benefits rheumatism, gout, and the stomach.
Is turquoise an expensive stone?
Turquoise is no more expensive than other semi-precious stones. Like them, its price varies according to quality. But most of all, it is a function of supply and demand. While demand is high, its supply is getting rarer and rarer. Why is Turquoise So Expensive?: Beauty, Rarity and Popularity Why is turquoise so expensive?
Is turquoise a rare stone?
Turquoise was one of the first gemstones found by man over 7000 years ago, it was immediately coveted by royalty and spiritual leaders. The highest quality Turquoise has been rare and highly sought after for the duration of its history. Today, rare Turquoise such as AAA Gem Turquoise is nearly impossible to find and becoming very valuable.
Is turquoise jewelry more expensive than diamond?
Since it’s so much rarer than a diamond of the same grade, turquoise definitely qualifies as more valuable. It’s worth more than gold, as well, and most other precious gems that people consider high value. Garland says that, when it comes to turquoise, the hardness, aesthetic beauty, and rarity all play a huge role.
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Where can I find turquoise stones?
Currently, the Wudang mountain area of northwestern Hubei Province and Shaanxi Province, about 150 km to the northwest, produce fine turquoises. The material occurs as compact nodules, typically up to 8 cm, with much larger masses occasionally found. The color ranges from pale blue to light green. Generally, Chinese stones have softer matrix and are more porous than the material from the American Southwest.
What color adds value to turquoise?
Generally, darker shades and less green tint in blue colors add more value to turquoises. Of course, consumers who appreciate matrix patterns would consider their beauty crucial to determining their value. Spiderweb turquoise, veined with black matrix in a pattern that looks like crocheted lace, is quite popular.
What is the birthstone of December?
With striking sky blue to blue-green colors, turquoise has been prized by cultures all over the world for over 5,000 years. Today, the traditional December birthstone is favored by well-known modern jewelry designers as well as aficionados of American Southwestern and Native American jewelry.
What era was turquoise jewelry?
In the Victorian Era, turquoise was greatly admired and also typically set in gold. Today, more jewelry designers are emulating the Persians and Victorians and setting pieces in gold. Gold-plated sterling silver brooch with turquoise cabochons. Probably German, mid-19th century.
How is turquoise stabilized?
All but the highest grades of turquoise may be “stabilized” by a pressure infusion of wax or epoxy resin. Small, porous pieces are sometimes pressed together with a resin binder to make a stabilized mosaic. However, whether a stone has been stabilized is not always obvious, as the following photo illustrates.
How hard is turquoise?
This matrix can affect the color, toughness, and workability of the stone. Relatively pure specimens of turquoise might have a hardness of around 5 and be moderately porous.
Where is turquoise set?
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain. Although the practice of setting turquoises in silver has a long tradition in the United States, jewelers traditionally set these stones in gold, sometimes with diamonds, in the Middle East as well as Iran. Turquoise bracelet and ring: Iran.
Where can I find turquoise?
The turquoise is found in sandstone that is, or was originally, overlain by basalt. Copper and iron workings are present in the area. Large-scale turquoise mining is not profitable today, but the deposits are sporadically quarried by Bedouin peoples using homemade gunpowder. In the rainy winter months, miners face a risk from flash flooding; even in the dry season, death from the collapse of the haphazardly exploited sandstone mine walls may occur. The colour of Sinai material is typically greener than that of Iranian material but is thought to be stable and fairly durable. Often referred to as "Egyptian turquoise", Sinai material is typically the most translucent, and under magnification, its surface structure is revealed to be peppered with dark blue discs not seen in material from other localities.
Where is turquoise found?
Turquoise deposits are widespread in North America. Some deposits, such as those of Saguache and Conejos Counties in Colorado or the Cerrillos Hills in New Mexico, are typical supergene deposits formed from copper porphyries. The deposits in Cochise County, Arizona, are found in Cambrian quartzites and geologically young granites and go down at least as deep as 54 meters (177 ft).
How does turquoise form?
Turquoise deposits probably form in more than one way. However, a typical turquoise deposit begins with hydrothermal deposition of copper sulfides. This takes place when hydrothermal fluids leach copper from a host rock, which is typically an intrusion of calc-alkaline rock with a moderate to high silica content that is relatively oxidized. The copper is redeposited in more concentrated form as a copper porphyry, in which veins of copper sulfide fill joints and fractures in the rock. Deposition takes place mostly in the potassic alteration zone, which is characterized by conversion of existing feldspar to potassium feldspar and deposition of quartz and micas at a temperature of 400–600 °C (752–1,112 °F)
Why is turquoise green?
Some of the green to green-yellow shades may actually be variscite or faustite, which are secondary phosphate minerals similar in appearance to turquoise.
Why do people wear turquoise?
In many cultures of the Old and New Worlds, this gemstone has been esteemed for thousands of years as a holy stone, a bringer of good fortune or a talisman. The oldest evidence for this claim was found in Ancient Egypt, where grave furnishings with turquoise inlay were discovered, dating from approximately 3000 BCE. In the ancient Persian Empire, the sky-blue gemstones were earlier worn round the neck or wrist as protection against unnatural death. If they changed colour, the wearer was thought to have reason to fear the approach of doom. Meanwhile, it has been discovered that the turquoise certainly can change colour, but that this is not necessarily a sign of impending danger. The change can be caused by the light, or by a chemical reaction brought about by cosmetics, dust or the acidity of the skin.
How many tons of turquoise are there in Nevada?
While a number of the Nevada deposits were first worked by Native Americans, the total Nevada turquoise production since the 1870s has been estimated at more than 600 short tons (540 t), including nearly 400 short tons (360 t) from the Carico Lake mine.
What is the hardness of turquoise?
The finest of turquoise reaches a maximum Mohs hardness of just under 6, or slightly more than window glass. Characteristically a cryptocrystalline mineral, turquoise almost never forms single crystals, and all of its properties are highly variable. X-ray diffraction testing shows its crystal system to be triclinic. With lower hardness comes lower specific gravity (2.60–2.90) and greater porosity; these properties are dependent on grain size. The lustre of turquoise is typically waxy to subvitreous, and its transparency is usually opaque, but may be semitranslucent in thin sections. Colour is as variable as the mineral's other properties, ranging from white to a powder blue to a sky blue and from a blue-green to a yellowish green. The blue is attributed to idiochromatic copper while the green may be the result of either iron impurities (replacing aluminium) or dehydration .
What color is turquoise?
Turquoise range from different shades of blue to shades of green. Some have matrix, others don’t. Even the matrix differ greatly in color and pattern. To help you identify them better, let's go over a few different types of turquoise that are well known and that we deal with on a daily bases.
What is the color of the turquoise on a lone mountain?
Lone Mountain turquoise range from clear blue to dark blue spider web. The most sought after Lone Mountain turquoise are the dark blue with black spider web matrix. Most of the turquoise that come out of Lone Mountain these days are gray blue or robin’s egg blue. The dark blue with black spider web are very rare to find.
What color is Carico Lake?
Carico Lake Turquoise. Carico Lake turquoise range from beautiful shades of blue to lime green. The lime green color is due to the high levels of faustite and zinc. Although blue turquoise is the majority produced, in recent years lime green has been most valued for its rarity and unique color.
Where is Dry Creek turquoise mine?
Dry Creek Turquoise mine is a mine which is located in Lander County, Nevada. Dry Creek Turquoise has gained much popularity in recent years with its milky white and light blue coloring and brown matrix. This color of turquoise was not previously used in jewelry. Different from the White Buffalo from Tonopah, Nevada, ...
Where is the Sleeping Beauty turquoise mine?
The Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Mine, located in Globe, Arizona, is one of the most famous turquoise mines and produces some of the most desirable turquoise in the world due to the purity of its color. The mine closed for a second time (first time in the early 1960s) in August 2012, which has skyrocketed the price of Sleeping Beauty Turquoise.
Who discovered Kingman turquoise?
It’s discovered and mined by prehistoric Navajo Indians well over 1000 years ago. The Colbaugh family has owned and operated Kingman since the 1880s and is credited for discovering this ancient mine as well as the Hohokam hammers left behind by the Navajo Indians. The “high blue” color of Kingman turquoise has become a standard in ...
Is Dry Creek a rare mine?
Different from the White Buffalo from Tonopah, Nevada, Dry Creek is indeed considered a very rare mine, because the mine is currently closed. Dry Creek with brown matrix is the highest grade of this turquoise.
Where is the turquoise mine in Nevada?
A collector's stone, this historic Nevada mine is in Crescent Valley, Nevada. Originally nicknamed 'Zuni Nuggets', this turquoise is naturally hard & high-grade. T his Nevada mine produces amazing shades of lime-green and blue turquoise. Due to gold acquisitions covering parts of the mine, Stennich is very hard to find today.
Where is Bisebee turquoise mined?
Bisebee Turquoise. Originally a huge copper mine in Arizona, this mine produces a royal blue turquoise. Only one company was given the lease to the mine, and in that time, less than 2,000 lbs of high-grade stone was recovered. With so few of these gems ever found, the stone is extremely rare.
What color is Carico Lake?
Carico Lake Turquoise. The mine in Nevada produces turquoise with an astoundingly vibrant color palette, ranging from electric greens to mossy, earth greens. This mine has also produces blue turquoise in a range of colors as well.
What is Sunwest Silver?
Sunwest Silver is home to one to the world's largest personal collections of North American turquoise. We hope to see you soon! Topics: Turquoise , Sunwest Turquoise , Turquoise Jewelry , Sunwest Handmade , Sunwest on the Plaza.
Where is Darling Darlene turquoise mined?
Taken from a small mine in Northern Nevada, Darling Darlene Turquoise can come in a fairly wide range of colors including blue-green to light blue. The mine was initially a small operation, and later became a gold mine, limiting the amount of this particular turquoise that actually hits the market.
Is turquoise a collectible color?
Turquoise comes in so many shapes and sizes, it’s hard to keep track. North American Turquoise is some of the most envied in the world for its beautiful color matrix and high-grade quality, but there are several other turquo ise types from around the world that are equally beautiful and collectible. All turquoise is unique & collectible, ...
Is turquoise rare?
All turquoise is unique & collectible, and there are rare turquoises that are coveted around the world. We have created this short guide to help you know when the turquoise you are considering is indeed rare. The more knowledge you have, the more comfortable you can be when you make your next turquoise purchase.
Where is turquoise found?
Turquoise has been mined in Persia (present day Iran) for thousands of years. It has long been prized for its intense sky blue color with great depth. It is typically found in nugget form inside the host rock and is available in both clear and heavily webbed forms. Persian turquoise is characteristically cut into “high dome” cabochons. It is usually quite hard and does not require stabilization for sufficient color or processing.
What is Indian Mountain turquoise?
Although Indian Mountain was a relatively recent discovery, it is still considered a “classic” among turquoise aficionados due to the large amount of beautiful and distinctive turquoise produced from its large seam deposits. Indian Mountain turquoise is seen in an unusually wide range of colors and matrix patterns. Although the colors range from deep green to blue to white, the color Indian Mountain is famous for is its unique greenish-blue stones with fine black spider-webbing. Clear material without matrix is seldom seen as most turquoise contains tan, gold or black matrix. Except for some scavenging of the old site, the mine has not been worked for years as the main deposit played out long ago. It is highly collectible and is relatively rarely seen on the market. Some “looks” such as the nearly white with fine black spider-webbing command prices equal to top Number 8 and Bisbee turquoise.
What is the color of Carico Lake turquoise?
While clear material is found, the vast majority of finished stones are uniquely webbed with the limonite host rock material. Colors range from pale to dark blue and from pale green to a dark military green. Among the green Carico Lake stones are sometimes seen a bright green which is almost neon in appearance. The market has deemed this rare neon green to be the most valuable, with the dark green and deep blues also in high demand. As is common with most turquoise, the pale colors are less valuable than the satud deep colored stones.
What is blue moon?
Also rare and interesting are the occasional white or very pale blue stones with dark blue irregular stain lines reminiscent of some of the material from Turquoise Mountain. Blue Moon is very hard, high quality turquoise and is very collectible but was never produced in sufficient quantity to create a following among jewelry makers and collectors. As a result, it continues to be priced significantly lower than more popular turquoise of similar quality and beauty. Hence it may be considered to be an underd turquoise mine.
What is the hardest turquoise?
Godber is one of the hardest turquoises found and like Lone Mountain turquoise and a few others is never seen stabilized because the rough is too hard for the stabilizing solution to penet. As a consequence of this hardness, Godber turquoise doesn’t change color over time due to environmental exposure (skin oils, etc.). The Godber mine is very small and has never produced a lot of turquoise. The darker blue stones with attractive black or reddish brown matrix are extremely rare and are highly collectible. The typical light blue cabs with mode webbing are the most common and their prices indicate that they are underd given the quality of this turquoise.
What color are Bisbee cabs?
Also, the blue in the cabs pictured here is not as deep as one might expect in natural stones. Natural Bisbee cabs usually have a look of “depth” in which it seems as though you can see deeply into the blue. Top quality natural Bisbee blue cabs are famous for this depth of color. By contrast, stabilized stones look “flat”.
Why is Indian Mountain called a grass roots mine?
The Indian Mountain mine was what is called a “grass roots” mine because the turquoise was located very close to the surface, as deep as the roots of grass. Although most turquoise deposits are shallow, located within 100 feet of the surface, most mines require digging shafts and tunnels to reach the deposits.
Where is the rarest turquoise?
Lander Blue turquoise is from a mine in Lander County, Nevada, which a picnicker discovers in 1973. It produces some of the most beautiful spider-web turquoise ever. It is the rarest and the most valuable turquoise in the world. Miners find less than 110 pounds of this beautiful spider-web turquoise.
Where is turquoise mine?
Cripple Creek turquoise mine is in Teller County, Colorado and miners looking for gold in the area also find turquoise deposits. Most importantly, two separate mines are currently active in the area both under the Cripple Creek name. Blue Gem turquoise mine is approximately 6 miles south of Battle Mountain, Nevada.
What is the most valuable blue gem in Nevada?
As a matter of fact, of the multiple Nevada “Blue Gem” mines, the Battle Mountain Blue Gem mine , which begins production in 1934, yields the most valuable Blue Gem turquoise due to its rich color and hardness. This mine is no longer in business. Next, Fox is one of Nevada’s most productive turquoise mines.
What is the color of Carico Lake?
Correspondingly, it’s clear, iridescent, spring-green color is due to its zinc content and is highly unique and collectible.
Where is King's Manassa turquoise?
King’s Manassa turquoise is of Manassa, Conejos County, Colorado. Manassa turquoise has rich, brilliant greens and gold matrix. Blue and blue-green turquoise originate from these deposits as well.
Where is Red Mountain turquoise mined?
Red Mountain is in Lander County, Nevada. This mine, at one time, produces a large quantity of high grade turquoise. Consequently, the best Red Mountain turquoise rivals some of the high quality turquoise by the best mines in the Southwest. Red Mountain turquoise has an intricate, often red spider web matrix.
How many colors are there in Cerrillos?
Consequently, Cerrillos is the only turquoise that forms at the base of a volcano; thus, a variety of colors develops from the minerals in the various volcanic host rocks. Seventy-five colors exists, from tan to khaki-green to rich, blue-green to bright, light colors.
Where does turquoise come from?
Turquoise derives from dry and arid climates. Elevations of about 3,000-8,5000 feet are the best place to look. This makes the Southwestern United States such a prime piece of realty for its mining. Additional sites for turquoise include Tibet, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Iran (also known as Persia), and Mexico.
How hard is turquoise?
Not only does this directly determine wearability, but it proves that turquoise is, in essence, a fairly soft material to work with.
Why is turquoise so expensive?
This is why high-grade pieces are so expensive, often three times the cost of gold, and worth the investment.
What is the most common use of turquoise?
Mesopotamia even recorded the use of turquoise! Inlays for murals and beads for jewelry were some of the most common uses.
How is turquoise devalued?
Another way that turquoise can be devalued is when the raw material (which likely did not hold up to high-quality standards in the first place) is fixed through methods like stabilization or color correction. Since turquoise is so sensitive, something as minimal as oil from the skin can cause saturation to decrease. Due to this, color enhancement is often used to make sales and can be done quickly with a paraffin wax seal.
How to stabilize turquoise?
Stabilization can be performed on any gem that is considered below high-grade quality, and the process includes infusing wax or epoxy resin by means of pressure. If the pieces of turquoise are too small or too porous, they can be stabilized by being pushed together with resin.
What is the chemical formula of turquoise?
Turquoise is a combination of hydrated copper and aluminum phosphate, classified as a gemstone. Its chemical formula is CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O.
Overview
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. Like most other opaque gems, turquoise has been devalued by the introduction of treatm…
Properties
The finest of turquoise reaches a maximum Mohs hardness of just under 6, or slightly more than window glass. Characteristically a cryptocrystalline mineral, turquoise almost never forms single crystals, and all of its properties are highly variable. X-ray diffraction testing shows its crystal system to be triclinic. With lower hardness comes greater porosity. The lustre of turquoise is typically waxy to subvitreous, and its transparency is usually opaque, but may be semitranslucent in thin section…
Formation
Turquoise deposits probably form in more than one way. However, a typical turquoise deposit begins with hydrothermal deposition of copper sulfides. This takes place when hydrothermal fluids leach copper from a host rock, which is typically an intrusion of calc-alkaline rock with a moderate to high silica content that is relatively oxidized. The copper is redeposited in more concentrated form as a copper porphyry, in which veins of copper sulfide fill joints and fractures in the rock. Depositi…
Occurrence
Turquoise was among the first gems to be mined, and many historic sites have been depleted, though some are still worked to this day. These are all small-scale operations, often seasonal owing to the limited scope and remoteness of the deposits. Most are worked by hand with little or no mechanization. However, turquoise is often recovered as a byproduct of large-scale copper mining oper…
History of use
The pastel shades of turquoise have endeared it to many great cultures of antiquity: it has adorned the rulers of Ancient Egypt, the Aztecs (and possibly other Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans), Persia, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and to some extent in ancient China since at least the Shang Dynasty. Despite being one of the oldest gems, probably first introduced to Europe (through Turkey) …
Cultural associations
In many cultures of the Old and New Worlds, this gemstone has been esteemed for thousands of years as a holy stone, a bringer of good fortune or a talisman. The oldest evidence for this claim was found in Ancient Egypt, where grave furnishings with turquoise inlay were discovered, dating from approximately 3000 BCE. In the ancient Persian Empire, the sky-blue gemstones were earlier worn round the neck or wrist as protection against unnatural death. If they changed colour, the w…
Imitations
The Egyptians were the first to produce an artificial imitation of turquoise, in the glazed earthenware product faience. Later glass and enamel were also used, and in modern times more sophisticated porcelain, plastics, and various assembled, pressed, bonded, and sintered products (composed of various copper and aluminium compounds) have been developed: examples of the latter include "Viennese turquoise", made from precipitated aluminium phosphate coloured by cop…
Treatments
Turquoise is treated to enhance both its colour and durability (increased hardness and decreased porosity). As is so often the case with any precious stones, full disclosure about treatment is frequently not given. Gemologists can detect these treatments using a variety of testing methods, some of which are destructive, such as the use of a heated probe applied to an inconspicuous sp…