Genuine turquoise is a beautiful and versatile stone that can compliment almost any style or wardrobe. The turquoise you’ll find on the market today may come from any number of mines in the United States and throughout the world.
Many collectors seek out genuine turquoise from specific mines, especially if those mines are no longer in operation do to depletion. Genuine turquoise comes in many different colors and levels of purity. Sleeping Beauty turquoise is famous for its purity and light blue color. In fact, when most people think of turquoise jewelry, it’s probably the sky blue turquoise variety that springs to mind.
To find genuine turquoise, the parent rock it sometimes blasted away to expose veins of turquoise. The turquoise is then gathered by hand, sorted and processed. The highest grade genuine turquoise is hard enough to be polished and shipped to jewelry makers. However, most genuine turquoise must undergo some type of stabilization and treatment before e it is strong enough to be used in art and jewelry.
Today, there are not as many operating turquoise mines in the Southwestern United Staes, but there are still a few producing enough genuine turquoise to meet commercial demand. These mines are favorites among collectors, jewelry makers and enthusiasts who seek out the highest quality genuine turquoise.
Spotting genuine turquoise is typically a pretty easy task. The look and feel of genuine turquoise sets it apart from other varieties. It’s important to remember that just because a stone has undergone treatment for stabilization, that doesn’t mean it is not genuine turquoise.