Quality Turquoise & Turquoise Grades
What is Quality Turquoise?
Quality Turquoise is obviously determined by the hardness, luster and color of the stone. What is not so obvious about determining Quality turquoise as a collector is that Turquoise has two added factors that are different than most gemstones, the color/matrix factor and the location factor. To a gemologist quality Turquoise is determined by the standards of every other gemstone, and usually they would be looking for solid blue or solid green turquoise with no matrix (host rock) and they would be looking at the hardness and luster (ability to take a polish) to determine if the Turquoise is high quality Turquoise or low quality Turquoise. A collector however has the two added qualities to determine. The color.... this is determined by the collector, to say that one color is more valuable than others on todays market would be foolish. In the old days the deeper the blue (naturally), the better quality turquoise you have, an Blue Turquoise was much more valuable. Today, all colors of turquoise are considered quality Turquoise, infact, some of the odd color such as lime green, yellow, and hard light whitish blue turquoise are some of the most valuable quality turquoise. Also, as far as collectors are concerned, SPIDER WEB TURQUOISE IS THE MOST VALUABLE turquoise and of the highest quality Turquoise. The second factor is that is UNIQUE TO TURQUOISE is the location factor. This is very important to Turquoise Collectors, with American Turquoise being of the greatest value and highest quality Turquoise in the world. Persian turquoise is also a contender as the highest quality Turquoise to collectors. Depending on the mine location that a Turquoise stone is from, the value and collectible quality of the turquoise is greatly different. For example, you can have a tight spider web Turquoise cabochon from China, that is super high quality turquoise, but is only worth one 50th the price of Nevada's Lander Blue Mine's equal quality turquoise. We suggest most people never try to buy the top most collectible turquoise stones, it is very easy to get tricked and there are a lot of dishonest venders in the world, especially when some turquoise demands $1.00/ct and some turquoise demands $300.00/ct !!!
ALWAYS BUY FROM A REPUTIBLE DEALER THAT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MANY YEARS AND WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO DETERMINE WHICH STONE OR PEICE OF TURQUOISE JEWLRY YOU WOULD LIKE. We DO NOT recommend buying from roadside stands or dealers offering LOW COST or DISCOUNT Turquoise Jewelry, as REAL Turquoise is very valuable.
So when trying to determine what is quality turquoise try and remember all these factors, but most importantly buy the color and pattern of turquoise YOU like most, that will be the most quality turquoise to you and you will enjoy it the rest of your life.
Turquoise Grades And Treatments Done To Turquoise
-
High Grade Natural Turquoise is found in all
shades from sky blue to apple green. It is the hardest grade and
takes the best polish. The contrast between the color of turquoise
and the color of matrix {or mother rock} enhances the beauty of
each stone. Many mines produce distinctive stones whose origin
can be identified by an experienced person. High Grade simply put are the best stones that came from a particular mine, the top 10% or less that have the best color, matrix, hardness and are most desireable to the retail public and the collector. It can be hard for the public to determine the Turquoise grades.
- Enhanced turquoise: The Zachery or Foutz process impregnates
turquoise with vaporized quartz. This makes the stone harder, darkens
the color and takes a good polish. This process is hard to detect
by normal methods because quartz occurs naturally with some turquoise.
- Stabilized or Treated Turquoise: American manufacturers have
perfected a process using pressure and heat to fill the microscopic
gaps in the stone with plastic resin. When cured the product is
a treated stone hard enough to cut and polish. Most nugget and some
heishi products are made from real turquoise that has been stabilized.
Stabilization allows genuine but lower grade turquoise to be used
in Turquoise Jewelry.
- Wax Treated: Much of the turquoise from China is wax impregnated.
The paraffin treatment deepens and stabilizes the color but only
affects the surface.
- Reconstituted: This term describes pulverized turquoise scrap
from stone cutting mixed with blue dye and plastic binder. Most
products marketed under this name should really by labeled as simulated
“block”. Compressed Nugget is a similar product made from
larger pieces.
- Block: A mixture of plastic resin and dyes that is produced
in loaf sized blocks. We used to call this reconstituted because
we were told it was made from ground up turquoise scraps. In reality
there is no actual rock of any sort in block turquoise; it is entirely
man-made and should be labeled “simulated”. Block is produced
in many colors, simulating many different stones and shells. Except
for occasional batches of Lapis Block that contain ground up iron
pyrite, these are entirely simulated. Block is used heavily for
inlay and heishi.
- Dyed Stones: There are several naturally occurring stones that
look similar to turquoise when they are dyed blue. These include
Howlite, a white rock with black or gray markings, and Magnite or
Magnesite, a chalky white mineral that forms in rough nodules looking
faintly like the vegetable cauliflower. Other simulations include
glass, plastic, faience ceramic and polymer clay.
- This information on the treatments and grades was originally
written by Homer Milfred published by the New Mexico Abandoned Mine
Land Bureau in the Report 1994 – 1 – November 15, 1995.
We feel that this is the most accurate and simplistic information
on the grades of turquoise. We would like to add that there are
some lesser grades of natural turquoise in smaller pieces that are
used in small settings and inlay work. These come in varying grades
of hardness. The “block turquoise” referred to here is
really imitation or plastic and is quite often marketed as the real
thing. They can even create a matrix in it. Plastic turquoise or
other block stones can melt, fade and become quite less attractive
after purchase and wear. Imitation stones are quite often used in
machine stamped silver jewelry made overseas and marketed here as
Native American jewelry.
Natural Tortoise Nevada Turquoise & Variscite "Boulder"
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