What Makes Turquoise That Blue Color? (and other interesting facts about the mineral Turquoise)

Turquoise has long been used as a beloved adornment since the times of Ancient Egypt. The mummified body of Queen Zar was discovered wearing four turquoise bracelets dating back to approximately 5500 BC--the time of the second ruler of Egypt's First Dynasty. Ancient Egyptians believed turquoise had mystical powers and used it regularly in art, sculptural figurines, and ornaments such as jewelry.

It is apparent that turquoise was an important item for trade among early Americans, as it has often been found in archaeological sites hundreds of miles away from sources. The Anasazi mined the stone in many areas throughout the Southwest.

Turquoise is currently mined in many places across the globe, such as Iran, USA, India, Tibet, China, Egypt, Chile, Russia, and Australia. The turquoise from Persia (Iran) was once considered the most beautiful, but now the stone mined in America is the most popular.

Turquoise is composed of copper, aluminum, phosphorus, and hydrogen and oxygen (in the form of water) and is found in desert regions, formed inigneous or sedimentary rock. It often has brown or black veins of the rock it was formed in running through it, known as 'matrix'. Generally a bluish-green color, turquoise ranges from bright blue to green, greenish-yellow, browns, and very rarely, pale powder blue. The color of the stone depends on the copper content, amount of matrix, and whether there is any iron or zinc present at the time of formation.

The more copper in a deposit of turquoise, the more blue the color will be. If a high concentration of iron is present, the stone takes on a more green hue, due to some of the aluminum being displaced by the iron in the mineral. Yellowish-green shades of turquoise are relatively rare, and are found in only a few mines where zinc is present. What is known as "White Turquoise" is extremely rare, found in only one mine in the world (Dry Creek Mine near Battle Mountain, Nevada) and isnot actually white, but a very pale powder blue color, due to a very small presence of copper.

There is much controversy surrounding the existence of this "White Turquoise. The issue is that actual turquoise that is white in color does not exist. It is mineralogically impossible that the stone's makeup could be such that it can still be classified as turquoise and be white, due to the copper. The misnomer comes from the fact that when this extremely pale blue turquoise was first discovered in its Nevada mine, the Shoshone Indians declared that it was as "rare as a white buffalo", and henceforth referred to it as "sacred white buffalo turquoise" or "white buffalo turquoise". It is easy to see how it has come to be known simply as "white turquoise" and how its nomenclature is so misleading.

Unfortunately, many impostor stones are being passed off as real turquoise in the marketplace today. Many of them are found in the same mines alongside turquoise, but if the chemical composition does not match that which defines turquoise, then it cannot be classified as such. A few of the common offenders include:

"Yellow Turquoise" is usually a combination of quartz and jasper, or just yellow serpentine.

"White Buffalo Turquoise", "White Turquoise", or simply "White Buffalo" is usually white howlite being sold as the extremely rare Dry Creek Sacred Buffalo Turquoise. Remember, turquoise cannot actually be perfectly white--it will always have a bluish tint.

"African Turquoise" is actually a jasper with a matrix like turquoise, and is often dyed to look more like natural turquoise.

Howlite and Magnesite are naturally pale colored stones which are often dyed to match the color of turquoise and then falsely sold as such.

"Reconstituted Turquoise" is not genuine turquoise. While it is made from real turquoise, tiny chips and dust from cutting the stone which are ground into a fine powder and then bound with an adhesive agent and other fillers, the finished product has so little actual turquoise that it cannot be called a natural stone.

*******************************************************************************************

Find more beautiful genuine turquoise earrings and other unique handmade artisan jewelry by visiting Bespangled Jewelry on the web!

Thanks for reading! You may also be interested in some of my other articles.