Elfnoodles

Just as most commercially available gemstones in jewelry have been “enhanced” (radiation, dyes, etc.) – whether the seller informs you of this or not, which they almost never do – turquoise is no exception. I was reading all about it yesterday, and there is a dizzying array of ways to fake turquoise, depending on the quality of the material you’re starting from.

A little teeny bit of what’s available is of such good quality and hardness that it has not been altered at all. These pieces are pricey, and don’t buy from someone unless you absolutely trust them. Otherwise, you have to assume that it has been altered.

The vast majority of turquoise, even if it hasn’t been fabricated completely from plastic or ground up “chalk” turquoise or by dying some other stone (usually howlite or magnesite), has been treated in some way. Most commonly it’s “stabilized” by injecting it with epoxy, or “color enhanced” by injecting it with dyes, or a combination of both. Sometimes they add little gold flecks to the epoxy to mimic pyrite inclusions. The dyes are either to deepen the blue or darken the veins, or both.

Again, most sellers are not going to tell you how much treatment the piece has undergone, if they even know. And if you are interested in such things, yes, all of these treatments affect the stone’s energy. You can’t get much of a vibe from a stone that is now half plastic.

What I found most interesting about the alterations in this case was that there seem to be two camps about stabilized turquoise. In the big camp are most of the high-end jewelry dealers, who argue that stabilization is actually preferable because it “seals” the turquoise (which is porous and easy to scratch on its own), and, they always add, maintains the color forever!

See, these retailers consider blue turquoise to be much more valuable than green turquoise, but here’s the thing: turquoise is a copper mineral and tends to change to green over time.

I found only one store in the other camp, which is that the natural aging of turquoise adds to its character: Skystone Trading Co. They also, interestingly enough, refer to an “oh wow” factor of seeing a beautiful turquoise piece, which they call “zat.” I’d never heard of this before, but I’d consider it seeing the spirit of the stone, and there’s no wonder people see it in their store since they sell unaltered pieces.

So what about this much more pervasive idea that turquoise that has been stuffed with epoxy so that it never changes is superior? Only young, new turquoise is valuable, and it has to be preserved in that state at all costs? It reminds me of botox. It’s not just a jewelry industry, it’s a metaphor.

I think this is turquoise. From a gem mine in North Carolina.