An ancient myth has it that turquoise comes from a mythical beast, the Corprus, which eats the earth around copper deposits and eliminates turquoise. (Couple that with the ancient American Indian myth - http://thetravelerstwo.blogspot.com/2011/10/huron-indian-myth.html - that tobacco originally grew wherever a woman sent by the Great Spirit sat, and you have I-don't know-what!)
Early ancient history says that turquoise came only from Persia (today's Iran) and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It's unique color is what qualifies it as a gemstone. With the exploration of the New World (the Americas) deposits were discovered that were of the same or possibly better quality as Persia's. This is so true that, even if you buy something labeled "Persian Turquoise," it may simply mean that it is of the highest quality regardless of its origin.
Copper must be present for the signature turquoise color to be created. Obviously, copper is a better financial investment, but turquoise is pretty lucrative as a raw stone, hand-crafted ornament, highly polished jewelry, or carved figurine.
There are also different types of processing that you might find a stone has gone through. Raw turquoise may be pretty crumbly, so a particular piece may have been "stabilized."
It was probably not until the late 1800's that it began to be incorporated into jewelry, and the first piece created is thought to be a belt that a white man asked a Navajo craftsman to fashion for him from silver coin. Previous to that, the Navajo simply worked turquoise into solid beads, carvings, or inlaid mosaics.
Today the majority of the world's finest quality turquoise comes from the United States, the largest producer of turquoise. Some of the gemstone-quality material goes for as much as $2,200 per kg. It, as I said, is sometimes pretty fragile and must be recovered by careful extraction using hand methods. It can also be found in California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.
The Kingman mine is owned by the Colbaugh's and you can purchase the raw mineral directly from their outlet store. What you really want to do, though, is get hand-crafted jewelry made by today's descendants of native Americans who still work with silver and turquoise. One just has to be very, very careful that you aren't sold something "made in China." Variscite and faustite are minerals that are turquoise in color and shading, but they are a separate mineral species. This, I think is where caveat emptor comes in (buyer beware!)
1 comment:
Actually, just knowing that an artisan is Indian doesn't ensure best quality but does give bragging rights, I guess. Prices of genuine silver and turquoise have often put it out of the reach of the average Indian or white artisan. My last ring came from a well-established jeweler in Durango. Finding "vintage" or "old pawn" is a neat way to ensure you have authentic, Indian-made jewelry. And note that each tribe had its own styles.
Paul
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