A perennial staple in Native American jewelry, turquoise has entranced people for thousands of years, from the Persian emperors to the ancient Egyptians to today’s acolytes. Found throughout the world, including the arid mountains of the American Southwest, the opaque blue green gemstone–the result of mineral deposits in hard rock–greets visitors to New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada at nearly every department store and gift shop. With the most impressive specimens rivaling pearls and rubies in value, turquoise is a natural wonder, and each stone unique. But with the introduction of liquid plastics and advanced color treatments, imitation–i.e., stabilized or treated–turquoise has flooded the market, making the most valuable stones much harder to come by.

Since 300 AD, turquoise has been prized by southwestern Native Americans for decoration, trade, and ritual. Early examples of Native American jewelry feature turquoise beads with holes drilled by the point of a stone or a cactus spine, and strung on cord to make necklaces and earrings. Though Spanish explorers introduced metalsmithing to southwestern tribes in the 1700s, it wasn’t until the late 1800s, when miners swarmed the area in search of gold, silver, copper, and lead, that Native Americans–notably the Zuni–began setting turquoise in silver.


Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, as tourism to the Southwest swelled, so did the popularity of Native American turquoise souvenirs, and mines competed to meet the demand. In the late 1950s, dealers developed methods of enhancing low-grade turquoise to make it appear denser and more lustrous. The practice of treating turquoise had been around for thousands of years–Native Americans darkened the stone with bear fat–but with the advancement of liquid plastics, stones that were previously too soft and chalklike to sell could enter the market. Stabilized turquoise, as it’s called, is dipped in epoxy resin, spreading the compound throughout the stone’s pores to harden and gloss the gem. Sometimes color-enhancing oils or dyes are added to the liquid-plastic mix. An estimated 85 percent of all turquoise on the market today is derived from stabilization and enhancement processes.

Though such treatments can result in exquisite specimens, collectors still widely favor natural turquoise. Today the value of a piece of turquoise is determined first by its density, color, matrix, and rarity, then by its size. At 10 by 11 inches and 6,880 karats, the most valuable Southwestern specimen on record is the George Washington stone, located at the Turquoise Museum, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, though its specific value has never been determined. A typical high-grade turquoise stone has a deep color, high density, and an aesthetically placed matrix, which is the veinlike markings leftover from the host rock. In general the darker the stone, the denser it is–and therefore more valuable. The matrix of a turquoise stone is generally characteristic of the mine from which it came. Depending on the type of host rock, the color of the matrix can take on many different hues–black, sienna, brown, white, gold, and more.

The rarest matrix is a laced pattern resembling a spiderweb that occurs evenly throughout the stone. Some specimens have no matrix at all; either the matrix was cut away by the dealer, or, less frequent, the turquoise was found clear, as is the case with Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Globe, Arizona. "In the Southwest, clarity of turquoise is not the rarest category," Joe Dan Lowry, director of the Turquoise Museum, explains. "Because, as with a diamond, you can cut away all of the matrix and have a stone with clarity. Only nature can perfectly lace a formation with a spiderweb matrix." Clarity isn’t necessarily desirable in turquoise unless the rock is larger than eight by ten inches–when it’s more likely to be the luck of the deposit.


Turquoise deposits are found in areas of exposed rock that experience both periodic runoff and rapid drying. Trace elements accumulate in the fractures of the host rock, crystallizing into turquoise, and as runoff continues, the turquoise becomes denser. The precise shade of the stone’s signature color depends on the mineralogical makeup of the water as well as that of the host rock: the more copper present in the stone’s chemical chain, the bluer the turquoise; more iron and less copper results in greener turquoise.

Like its matrix, the relative rarity of a turquoise specimen is also determined largely by the mine from which it was excavated. For example, because of their limited supply and the beauty of their specimens, the Lander Blue, No. 8, Bisbee, and Lone Mountain mines produce some of the most sought-after stones in the world, making their turquoise the most difficult and expensive to acquire. Although every mine produces a distinctive stone, advancements in isotopic chemistry have now made it possible to definitively trace turquoise to its source–a discovery that has far-reaching implications, such as tracking trade among Native Americans and authenticating a specimen’s provenance, for archaeologists and turquoise loversalike.

Until this authentication technology becomes publicly available, however, there are a few guidelines to ensure you are buying a quality stone. Before handing over your credit card, be sure the dealer is reputable. Ask for a receipt that includes the name of the jewelry artist and his or her tribal information; the name of the mine from which the turquoise was extracted; the address of the store from which it is being purchased; and certification that the turquoise is natural, stabilized, or treated. When caring for your stone, remember that turquoise is naturally porous, so contact with any oil or liquid, even soap and water, is discouraged. Instead use a silver-polishing cloth or glove to clean your turquoise, as well as any silver that surrounds it.

Like a one-of-a-kind work of art, each specimen of turquoise has a unique appeal that is a combination of its beauty, rarity, and value. Unlike other jewels, southwestern turquoise isn’t prized for conformity; rather, turquoise is most dazzling when it falls outside expectations–which shows that sometimes nature cannot be improved on.



These outfits offer the highest quality turquoise specimens and a certificate of authenticity upon purchase.

Carolyn Deuschle is a freelance writer based in Flagstaff, Arizona. Her writing also appears at DesignObserver.com.