Show me your turquoise jewelry!

[Autumn in New England]

Here's a video just after putting on the final polish. You can sort of see how the matrix sparkles. Please excuse the breathing... was still wearing my respirator!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Ha! It's an old photo! Rodney is the cute one!

lol But he chose YOU to be his model! I love it!!

 

[2Neezers]

Grateful to @2Neezers for directing me to this thread. Oh the eye candy! I am a turq junkie. What a joy to scroll through all of these stunning jewels.

Here are a few of my recent pieces... I sourced and cut the stones in this "sampler" piece, which I also designed. They are all untreated. Navajo master silversmith Henry Yazzie completed the work. Left to right, the stones are royston, grasshopper, golden hill, kingman, carico lake, number 8, and morenci. The clasp is bisbee.





And this is an XL ithaca peak and gold piece Kee Yazzie made for me. I cut the stone... not sure if you can see it, but the matrix is all sparkling pyrite. I have a video, but can't seem to get it to post. Oh well.

Both of your pieces are gorgeous! I love the variety of stones in your ‘sampler’ piece and how the metal framing each stone has its own unique design. Love it!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Thanks so much, @2Neezers! Enjoying this thread immensely!!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Here's a video just after putting on the final polish. You can sort of see how the matrix sparkles. Please excuse the breathing... was still wearing my respirator!

I don't have a lot of experience with turquoise, but that piece is absolutely and especially beautiful. Clearly I'm missing out.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Thank you, @ItsMainelyYou! It's never too late to acquaint yourself with a new gem.

 

[theredspinel]

Thank you everyone posting in this thread! I have a question, I’ve been a lifelong turquoise lover. Even before I liked jewels and gemstones I’ve loved turquoise!
However, I don’t own a single piece (I know it’s a travesty)!

I’m also a lover of all things untreated, even the basic industry accepted stuff so buying turquoise feels impossible to do, after reading around and realising how much of the turquoise on ‘the market’ (which market?) is treated or stabilised in some way.

Can someone here please help me?! Point me to the direction of an online business that sells completely untreated turquoise? I want it to be unstable

 

[Autumn in New England]

Hey @theredspinel! I am in full agreement... I try my damndest to avoid anything treated with all of my gems. Truly though, contrary to popular belief, there is so much unstabilized turq out there! Everything I posted here is untreated. Some great American mines that produce large nugget, hard rough that does not need stabilizing is royston, carico, battle mountain, pilot mountain, candelaria, morenci, bisbee, and kingman (stay away from the commerical stuff... I'm talking high-grade). Golden hill (from Kazakhstan) is an incredible periwinkle shade with brown matrix... super hard and untreated. I am also in love with sonoran gold from Mexico. It's bi-color and untreated. I will post some examples!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Forgot to mention dry creek turq too... super hard! But a bit scarce these days.

 

[theredspinel]

Hey @theredspinel! I am in full agreement... I try my damndest to avoid anything treated with all of my gems. Truly though, contrary to popular belief, there is so much unstabilized turq out there! Everything I posted here is untreated. Some great American mines that produce large nugget, hard rough that does not need stabilizing is royston, carico, battle mountain, pilot mountain, candelaria, morenci, bisbee, and kingman (stay away from the commerical stuff... I'm talking high-grade). Golden hill (from Kazakhstan) is an incredible periwinkle shade with brown matrix... super hard and untreated. I am also in love with sonoran gold from Mexico. It's bi-color and untreated. I will post some examples!

Thank you @AutumnInNewEngland but where can I buy these amazing sounding pieces of turquoise?!!

 

[Autumn in New England]

I should mention... turq grades pretty much consist of hard and soft. That's it. Color and patterning is all a matter of one's tastes and what speaks to you. So, hard turq (not in need of stabilization) = high-grade turq. Forgive me if you guys already know all of this. Turq talk just gets me super excited and I start to ramble. hee hee

Here are some examples of untreated American stones. These are all XL, so variety is out there!

Water web kingman (a favorite)... note how the matrix is darker blue and white. Kingman's matrix is often dyed black. That is still acceptable as "natural" in the trade though, because the turq itself is left untreated with only the host rock being dyed. I really don't understand why they do it (for contrast, I suppose). But I vastly prefer the white matrix!



Red web kingman. This matrix is natural color as well.



Royston. One of the few that comes in bi-color nuggets.







Carico lake (the blue is birdseye kingman with blackened matrix).



A huge hunk of carico lake I cut myself from a giant boulder... it's 2.5" long! Not the coveted lime green, but still really interesting, IMO.



Large battle mountain stone I cut and have yet to set. This material is known for being a "high" blue, which means pure and saturated!



Dry creek (also known as "white turq," but it's truly a pale blue-green). Super hard and never treated!



Number 8... the "old mine" colors were deeper. The new material is lighter. But the matrix is often really symmetrical and even, which I love.



Golden hill (from Kazakhstan)... periwinkle blue with red matrix... never treated because it's such hard material.





Sonoran gold (Mexico). Got its name because of the yellow-ish matrix... often bi-color. Fairly new to the market and so gorgeous! Plentiful in large sizes and untreated!



And, lastly, this large cab is stabilized, but I love it so much, I had to include it. It's Egyptian (Sinai)... bought it from Earthfire Gems in Santa Fe. This material is just impossibly blue with chocolatey matrix. I am setting it in gold eventually, when the pocketbook permits!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Whoa, that ended up being way longer than I anticipated! Sorry for bombarding the thread. So, @theredspinel, that's a tough question. I sort of go where the wind takes me in that respect. I could definitely give you a list of galleries where you can find high-end pieces. But the loose stones or rough material is a bit more tricky. Sometimes I check out ebay or etsy, or they come from a contact at the mines. Please let me know what you're looking for... I would so love to assist in your hunt!

 

[theredspinel]

Whoa, that ended up being way longer than I anticipated! Sorry for bombarding the thread. So, @theredspinel, that's a tough question. I sort of go where the wind takes me in that respect. I could definitely give you a list of galleries where you can find high-end pieces. But the loose stones or rough material is a bit more tricky. Sometimes I check out ebay or etsy, or they come from a contact at the mines. Please let me know what you're looking for... I would so love to assist in your hunt!

Thank you so much for all of this! I’m being cheeky at work and looking at PriceScope (and Etsy ) your post deserves a proper response (which would be my pleasure because I’d truly love your help in sourcing my first piece) so just posting this to remind me to come back and respond properly after work. Thank you again!

 

[stracci2000]

@AutumnInNewEngland
You have such vast knowledge...I love hearing about all the mines.
I have acquired a bit more turquoise recently and will post more photos soon.....
In the meantime, I've had this piece for many years, it was a gift. Most likely Navajo made. Can you tell me where you think the stone it is from?

 

[theredspinel]

Now I’m being really cheeky @AutumnInNewEngland and I know I’m doing what newbies do (insert shocked face - smilies aren’t working) but I found this piece online, being represented as sleeping beauty turquoise from Tucson but completely untreated / not stabilised. From this back image where you can see some colour zoning (?) is this indicative of anything either way re treatments??

 

[RMOO]

Here’s mine:

 

[Autumn in New England]

@AutumnInNewEngland
You have such vast knowledge...I love hearing about all the mines.
I have acquired a bit more turquoise recently and will post more photos soon.....
In the meantime, I've had this piece for many years, it was a gift. Most likely Navajo made. Can you tell me where you think the stone it is from?

Chinese without a doubt, @stracci2000! Very pretty!!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Hi @theredspinel! BTW, I want to see your red spinel. Anyway! So, variation in color or tone does not necessarily speak to the stone's possible treatments either way. Unlike transparent gems, where we can turn to certain vendors and rely on gemological reports for quality grades, turquoise is one of those stones where you literally have to hold hundreds of pieces in your hand before you truly have the knowledge to decipher grades and possible treatments. So it's difficult to do by photos alone. But do you have a better one of this cab? SBT is tough, because it's one type of turq that is stabilized more often than not. Most of the other mines I mentioned can be better trusted. Some are never treated. Kingman is another one where you really need to know your stuff to avoid stabilized stones (if you want to, that is). But the high-grade kingman material is fairly easy to distinguish from the lower grade Colbaugh processed stones.

 

[stracci2000]

Chinese without a doubt, @stracci2000! Very pretty!!

Really? I'm so disappointed

 

[Autumn in New England]

Really? I'm so disappointed

Oh no! Don't be disappointed. The owner of the carico lake mine once told me that for every American mine, there is a Chinese twin. It gets a bad rap because of the commercial-grade, treated material that comes out of there. But China also produces some super high-grade, untreated material! I own it and love it just as much as my American stones.

 

[Autumn in New England]

I want to show you something, @stracci2000. This is a necklace by Victor Trujillo (Navajo) that I purchased from the Gertrude Zachary gallery. It is high-grade cloud mountain turq (from China). I defy any turq lover to dismiss this material simply because it's Chinese. So keep on loving your beautiful pendant, my friend!

 

[stracci2000]

I want to show you something, @stracci2000. This is a necklace by Victor Trujillo (Navajo) that I purchased from the Gertrude Zachary gallery. It is high-grade cloud mountain turq (from China). I defy any turq lover to dismiss this material simply because it's Chinese. So keep on loving your beautiful pendant, my friend!

That is one beautiful necklace! Stunning!
And Gertrude Zachary is just down the road from here, I actually drive by there today. So I may have to pop in sometime.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Wish I could join you, @stracci2000! Take pix!!

 

[Mreader]

My mom loved Southwestern jewelry and I kept some of it because it reminds me of her. Turquoise was her favorite color.

This bracelet is my favorite:



I gave her the horse earrings as a gift (she loved horses also)





She bought these earrings at a vintage jewelry store. They are carved turquoise we were told but they don’t look southwestern so I’m not sure of their origin.

 

[Mreader]

Whoops forgot one. Also it’s been so nice looking through this thread!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Love the inlaid kachina face in your cuff, @Mreader! And your pieces are even more meaningful because of your momma, which is so lovely. I've thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of the shared photos too!!

 

[theredspinel]

Hi @theredspinel! BTW, I want to see your red spinel. Anyway! So, variation in color or tone does not necessarily speak to the stone's possible treatments either way. Unlike transparent gems, where we can turn to certain vendors and rely on gemological reports for quality grades, turquoise is one of those stones where you literally have to hold hundreds of pieces in your hand before you truly have the knowledge to decipher grades and possible treatments. So it's difficult to do by photos alone. But do you have a better one of this cab? SBT is tough, because it's one type of turq that is stabilized more often than not. Most of the other mines I mentioned can be better trusted. Some are never treated. Kingman is another one where you really need to know your stuff to avoid stabilized stones (if you want to, that is). But the high-grade kingman material is fairly easy to distinguish from the lower grade Colbaugh processed stones.

Thank you so much @AutumnInNewEngland I’m loving reading all your tips and you really do have a wealth of information! Ok, I’ll stop being impulsive and leave that SB turquoise to a side for a while (after looking through this thread I’m just craving blue) and I apologise I couldn’t get back on to PS after work yesterday - I was beat!

So thank you specifically for the mine information, that was invaluable and something unachievable with a quick google search so I really mean it - thank you!! I feel that’s a great starting point for me to start researching about, especially as you also provided tips as to what mines are *never* (cynic in me reads that as hardly ever) treated.

Whilst doing some very superficial reading around yesterday I came across the term Mexican Nacozari turquoise which wasn’t a part of your list - what can you tell me about this type of turquoise in regards to likelihood of treatment? I have seen a ring with that turquoise, again being sold as completely untreated and it’s a gorgeous shade of blue!

 

[theredspinel]

Chinese without a doubt, @stracci2000! Very pretty!!

I’d love to know how you know this?!! Teach me to be you please (ugh proper smilies not working)

 

[Autumn in New England]

You're in for so much fun, @theredspinel, while beginning your turq journey! I can't wait to see what you find.

Nacozari turq is very collectible! It's a copper bearing mine, so lots of high blues available. This is one of those mines that will be split with regard to treatment. I know it produced some gem grade, hard material that did not need stabilization. Then there was the lower grade stabilized chalk material that shopping networks sold for a while (sorry, Jay King, looking at you). I don't see much of it around anymore though!

If you like those super saturated pure blues, try battle mountain (there is the blue that comes in white host rock and then an aqua or teal that comes in darker host rock). Leslie from HiGradeTurquoise cut this stone for me. As I recall, she had quite a bit of rough a few years back, and may still. You can see that the material can be very clean. Please excuse the gigantic bail on this pendant. Not sure what the silversmith was thinking. I asked for one that would accommodate 10mm beads... this thing is an inch in diameter. I'm going to have it remade one of these days!

Check out Durango Silver... they have great write ups on different mines!

 

[Autumn in New England]

I’d love to know how you know this?!! Teach me to be you please (ugh proper smilies not working)

lol You're too cute. So this is where going through hundreds and hundreds of stones comes in. There's just no substitute for it, and you'll get there. I can give you some great reading material to order from Amazon though, if you'd like? Mind you, some stones origins can't be ascertained just by looking at the piece, even if you're a veteran turq collector. But certain stones are very obvious. And that one is classic hubei. It's the color, luster, and matrix that tell the story. If I weren't 150% sure, I'd definitely give a disclaimer. But isn't it lovely?!