It’s two days to Christmas (and here, at least, bitterly cold with sub-zero wind chills). I’m lucky: I have no shopping to do; all that remains to me is to pack and ship a couple of non-holiday orders, and I won’t be among the crowds frantically thronging stores in town looking for last-minute gifts.
A lot of folks, however, aren’t so fortunate. some are still looking for that perfect piece for that perfect person, and in this area, that often means turquoise Indian jewelry. But whether you’re looking for loose stones or stones already set in jewelry, it can be difficult to shop for turquoise. Part of it is simply the dizzying array of types and sources of the Skystone; part of it is the equally confusing diversity of price points and valuations; and part of it is the often-invisible methods of treating the stone that alter its inherent value significantly. Today, we’re going to try to give you a little shopping guide. It can useful to refer back to some of the links to earlier posts that will embedded in this piece, because they’ll go into various topics and issues in greater explanatory detail.
Back in the ’70s, the diamond industry began promoting (heavily) what it called “The Four Cs” — also known as cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. It managed to turn it into a full-scale meme, and a buying standard still in common use forty years later (if now with a bit more attention to whether the stones comply with a fifth “c” — “conflict-free.” It’s a fairly easy measurement standard, as long as you know what the benchmarks are and what you’re willing to pay within that framework.
Turquoise (like a lot of other gemstones) is much more complex. Valuation does have certain standards, true; after all, there are going market rates for certain types of stones, depending on appearance, source, and treatment or lack thereof. But many of the factors used in valuation of turquoise involve such highly individualized opinions and preferences as to render them almost wholly subjective. It’s great for people with enough knowledge not to get taken, who know what they want and aren’t concerned about the presence or absence of other qualities aside from those of personal interest. For everyone else, it’s a much greater challenge.
In all aspects, key is knowing what you want — and I do mean what you want, not what someone else tells you you want. I’m going to try to tackle each topic in the order it’s likely to become an issue. Shopping for gemstones, and for jewelry generally, is a highly personal, often very emotionally-charged act at the best of times, and most often, what attracts a person to a given stone is going to be its apparent qualities on first sight, so that’s where we’ll begin: aesthetics.
AESTHETICS
What you see the very first time you look at a particular stone is likely to shape your opinion of it at least as much as any other factor. Of course, in this case, I’m referring to a situation in which you’re buying for yourself or for a personal gift; for those who are or want to become collectors, the very motivations behind shopping for turquoise are different. But for most people, it’s going to be how that stone catches your eye at first glance.
So what is it that you see?
Color is likely to be the first thing that attracts a person to a particular piece of turquoise. Classic robin’s-egg blue, deep sky blue, seafoam green, even electric lime green: Which to buy?
As with most else in life, it depends.
If you simply want a classic-looking piece of turquoise, especially of the sort associated in much of the market’s mind with Indian jewelry, the blues are generally the most iconic. With certain exceptions we’ll discuss, sky-blue stone with a bit of black matrix is probably the archetypal version of the stone, at least for this purpose. But when you see a particular stone, what are you actually getting, and how does that translate to value?
COLOR
Blue turquoise runs a fairly lengthy gamut of shades, from an icy blue that contains only the slightest hint of color (found in Nevada) to the clear, intense robin’s-egg and sky blues of Arizona turquoise to the near-indigo of some other Nevada stone. Greens have more variability yet, ranging from palest seafoam to dark teal, from an electric chartreuse shade to lime green to jade to the color of raw emerald. And then, of course, there’s white turquoise, which does have the palest hint of color in it, but not much.
The blues are perhaps easiest to find from Arizona mine sources: Morenci, Kingman, Sleeping Beauty, Turquoise Mountain, Bisbee, even Castle Dome and Ithaca Peak . . . all of these mines are known for producing turquoise in brilliantly clear shades of blue. In Nevada, the Candelaria, Blue Gem, Royal Blue, and, of course, Lander Blue mines are noted for producing stone in beautiful blue hues. Mexican turquoise often appears in these shades, too, as does Persian turquoise.
Greens are much more the province of Nevada and Colorado, although it’s possible to find it in Arizona and New Mexico, and even Tibet. In Arizona, Kingman sometimes manifests in a soft seafoam shade, and once in a great while, it’s possible to find green Bisbee, which is relatively rare. In New Mexico, most of the mines that are still producing are today turning out stone on the green end of the spectrum. And much of the turquoise from Tibet strongly resembles Nevada’s Royston turquoise, in both color and matrix. In Nevada, however, a turquoise variant known as faustite is not uncommon, and it appears in positively electric shades of chartreuse, lime, and jade; Carico Lake, Damele, and the old Orvil Jack mine are classic examples. In Colorado, the Manassa Mine (sometimes called King’s Manassa or simply King’s) produces stone in a deep emerald green.
The white turquoise — genuine Sacred White Buffalo turquoise — is strictly the province of Nevada, and it’s rare. It’s also frequently fake. Oh, it’s real stone, all right; it’s just not turquoise. What does exist comes from a very limited geographic area, and unless you’ve mined it yourself, it’s hard to establish provenance with any real assurance. And the word “white,” of course, is relative: There’s actually a hint of icy blue, like a tint of aqua, in the stone, but compared to your average turquoise, yes, it looks “white.”
So which is the most valuable?
Again, it depends. Which color do you actually prefer? You can have the most expensive turquoise in the world, which would be Lander, but if you don’t like the color blue, you won’t be happy with it. And if you do like blue, but your favorite shade is baby blue, you’re going to be happier with less expensive Kingman than you are with the generally-pricier Bisbee.
Generally speaking, however, there is a rough (largely unspoken) market guide. usually, the more intense the color, the more valuable the stone. Cases of white turquoise an exception to that rule. Among the blues, this means that, all other things being equal, lighter to medium blues found in Kingman and Sleeping Beauty will be less expensive than their darker counterparts; light blue Candelaria will be cheaper than the intense near-indigo versions of the tone. Among the greens, it’s a bit trickier: Light seafoam green usually winds up being less valuable; deep jade and emerald tones are often more valuable, but prices are very much dependent on the source; and the neon faustite shades are often quite expensive, particularly among older stones. Much of this wide variability exists because, in the turquoise market, color is often inextricably intertwined with matrix.
MATRIX
We’ve talked about matrix at length in this series: what it is, the types of minerals that it comprises, the shapes and colors in which it appears. Matrix minerals, usually inclusions of host rock, vary substantially based on the specific geology of the geographic area from which a particular piece of turquoise is mined. As a result, you’ll see regional patterns develop: Copper and iron pyrite are common to Arizona, as well as the siltstone material that gives Bisbee its trademark smoky red-brown accents. Copper is found in much of Nevada, giving turquoise like Royston its beautiful golden-brown inclusions; where iron is abundant, such as in the northern part of the state, you more often find a charcoal gray- to black-looking matrix. Black chert is common to Nevada turquoise, too, and often looks inky, almost purple. The electric yellow and green turquoise found in northern Nevada, however, gets its unusual color from the zinc present in the area stone, and zinc is sometimes visible in the matrix, as well.
As a general matter, turquoise with matrix tends to be more valuable than turquoise without matrix. There are, of course, exceptions; I could show you very clear cabochons of high-grade Royal Blue turquoise that are virtually solid sky blue that run several times as much per carat as some of the cheapest webbed-matrix turquoise (for example, much of what comes out of China these days). The price and value of any given stone are dependent on many variables, and often those variables compete for primacy. The presence of matrix is but one factor to consider.
That said, there are general degrees of value within matrixed stone, as well. We’ll take Arizona turquoise as an example. Stones with wispy inclusion of white host rock or of flecks of iron pyrite (also known as “fool’s gold”), such as that found among a lot of Sleeping Beauty, Kingman, and Morenci turquoise, are generally going to be relatively inexpensive (some of it, in fact, will be downright cheap). It doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with the stone; quite the contrary: If you’re not shopping as a would-be collector, and if you like the color and look of it, especially for the cost, then you should feel perfectly comfortable buying it. Just don’t let anyone tell you, as I have seen done, that something like Sleeping Beauty is “the most valuable turquoise in the world.” At sometimes as little as $1.50 per carat, it’s actually one of the least valuable.
Now, looking at Arizona stones with more visible matrices, you’re likely to find examples that include bolder swatches of iron pyrite, plenty of copper, Bisbee’s reddish matrix, and occasionally chert. These tend to exist at various points along a spectrum of value, and it’s not always easy to place where each one goes because of other variables that come into play. We’ll start with pyrite, which is common to Morenci turquoise. Morenci itself is not usually terribly expensive on a per-carat basis, but it’s sometimes possible to find good-sized natural free-form nuggets or cabochons that run significantly more. Those that have significant matrix (which, with Morenci, will virtually always be pyrite) are regarded as of higher value than those with little to none. Part of this is the artificiality of outside market whims, such as when, in the old days, Native silversmiths were forced to add bootblack to the divots and crevices in clear blue Sleeping Beauty stones: A self-styled “expert” market, in point of fact actually unfamiliar with the vagaries of real turquoise, had arbitrarily decided that a blue stone without a black-looking matrix must be fake. Tired, probably in roughly equal amounts, of being accused of fraud and of demands for price reductions, they gave in and gave the market what it wanted: beautiful deep sky blue stone, but with a “classic” webbed black bootblack “matrix.”
Copper, of course, is abundant in Arizona turquoise, and indeed, it’s part of what gives the stone itself its trademark blue color. Most matrix copper exists on a metallic spectrum, from a pale gold-colored shade to a golden tan to bronze to an actual coppery-looking red to a dark brown. Among Arizona turquoise, it’s frequently found in the stone from Turquoise Mountain, and it’s usually webbed. Turquoise Mountain also, on average, tends to produce some of Arizona’s most expensive stone.
But some of Arizona’s turquoise contains matrices of a deep reddish-brown color, some of it appearing maroon, some “chocolate” brown. This most commonly occurs in Bisbee turquoise, and it makes for a stunningly beautiful stone. Ironically, this is where aesthetics come into play to create value, because high-grade Bisbee is usually the most expensive turquoise sourced to Arizona. Why ironic? Because whatever the hardness and stability of the stone itself, one would expect that the presence of precious metals like copper would increase the value more than any other type of mineral.
And what’s the mineral in Bisbee’s matrix? Mud.
More accurately, silt. Siltstone, to be precise, although you’ll sometimes see references to “mudstone” in the same context. We covered this when we explored Bisbee here a few months ago, and that mysteriously beautiful color and matrix is actually the result of eons’ worth of sedimentary layers packed tightly together, flowing into and around the blue turquoise and hardening over millennia. No one thinks of mud or silt as having any intrinsic value; quite the opposite, in fact. But it works together with the Skystone to produce something so beautiful that market valuation has decreed that it is, generally speaking, more valuable that turquoise shot through with bits of precious metal from the same general area.
Now, there’s also the question of webbed versus no-webbed matrix, and again, some general guidelines apply, all with their own caveats. Taking into account all other qualities of a given pair of stones, that one with a webbed matrix is going to be more valuable than the one with an irregular matrix (flecks, blocks, splotches, swirls). And there’s a hierarchy of webbing, too: Loosely connected lines, whether thin or thicker, that appear in a regular pattern across the whole of the stone qualify as “webbed.” When those lines are especially delicate, thin and fine, and linked together in a relatively close, tight, regular pattern, it’s called a “spiderwebbed” matrix. Spiderwebbing in a stone is usually worth more than ordinary webbing. (There’s something called “water-webbing,” too, which is a webbed look formed not by mineral inclusions but by water forced into the stone over time. Some water-webbed turquoise can be quite expensive, but it often depends on the inherent value of the stone itself.) Then you get into the sort of spiderwebbing that is found in the world’s finest turquoise, that from certain districts in northern Nevada. Some of the best are Battle Mountain, Red Mountain, Indian Mountain and Lander Blue, with Lander Blue occupying the apex of turquoise value. One of the qualities all of these stones at their best have in common is a very fine, very tight, almost circular webbed pattern in their matrices. Sometimes it’s golden brown or coppery red; more often, it appears black to the naked eye; but always, it appears in a very fine repeating pattern. Even “lower-grade” stone from these areas is spectacular, and runs into the mid- to high double digits per carat. The best Lander Blue exceeds $200 per carat.
Now, there is one context in which the turquoise itself serves as the matrix, rather than the stone. We looked at this phenomenon early on, which manifests in two forms: boulder turquoise and ribbon turquoise. In this case, gemstone cabochons are created from the host rock itself, which contains one or more inclusions of turquoise in it. It’s a beautiful effect, and a very good solution to using turquoise that, when mined, turns out to exist in a from t
o small and/or fragile to use on its own. That said, it’s also generally far less expensive than ordinary turquoise cabochons from the same area, because the proportion of actual turquoise stone that is present is much lower. When you see nuggets or cabochons that are largely host rock with either ribbons or small bits and flecks of blue or green, be aware that they should cost proportionally less.
SOURCE
Stone source winds up having perhaps the greatest overall correlation to price and market value. It’s not dependent strictly on the location where the stone was pulled from the earth, of course; with every stone, it’s a complex calculus of valuation, one that also includes the stone’s physical properties, color, matrix, size, shape, stability, and other less-tangible factors. But as a general proposition, you can assume, for example, that turquoise from north-central Nevada is going to be more valuable than turquoise from Arizona; that turquoise from New Mexico’s oldest mines will have greater value than turquoise from those still operating in Colorado; that elsewhere in the world, turquoise from Iran will be more expensive than turquoise from China or Tibet. And, of course, in the broadest general terms, you have a spectrum that begins at the top with Lander Blue and runs all the way down to Chinese chalk turquoise at the very bottom.
The factors that contribute to valuation by stone source have gotten rather esoteric. Part of this is due to the fact that many mines are no longer in operation, and so what’s currently on the market is all there will ever be of a given stone, at least as far as anyone now knows. That rarity alone renders some turquoise much more valuable than it would otherwise be. Some of it is due to the fact that what has been extracted from the soil at a given location tends to have greater hardness and stability, greater presence of certain minerals, greater beauty of color and matrix across the board than does turquoise from other locations (even if those locations happen to be quite nearby). And, of course, much of it is due to market standards of subjective preference that have developed over the course of the last century-plus, and have taken hold as seemingly immovable benchmarks.
What this means is that you can shop for turquoise based on where it was mined and have a pretty fair idea going in of the sort of price range you can expect to find. Of course, what it also means is that that value is going to be the result of some fairly arbitrary analysis of disparate factors that may have little to do with comparable value of physical attributes and more to do with market sentiment. The trick is in knowing which factors matter most to you.
Here’s what I mean. Suppose you’ve decided that you want to buy some higher-end cabochons to have placed in jewelry pieces for your own use. You like the intense colors and tightly webbed matrix of the best northern Nevada stones. But ultimately, you’re buying the less as a collector and more because you want to wear them eventually. All other things being equal, do you buy Indian Mountain at $45 per carat, or Lander Blue at $225 per carat?
You already know what my answer will be. It’s not even a question. Buy the Indian Mountain, and get many more pieces of jewelry out of it for your money.
Now, if your whole purpose in buying is because you do want to become a collector, and you want to build up a store of some of the finest-grade stone out there, then you go with the Lander Blue. Just be sure, when you do, that you’re getting the real thing. There isn’t much in circulation, and so it’s best to be wary when considering what’s on offer. Is the price to good to be true? Then it’s not Lander. Seriously.
CONDITION
Condition encompasses a number of things: the age of the stone; the actual physical condition of it in its current state; its degree of hardness and stability; whether there’s any old breakage or fracture; whether it’s been treated in any way (or, of course, whether it’s genuine).
As we covered last week, natural turquoise is virtually always going to be more valuable than turquoise that’s been subjected to any for of treatment, and this includes the so-called “Zachery process.” It’s also increasingly difficult to find untreated turquoise, not merely in cabochon form, but in nuggets and rough, as well. Much of what’s treated these days, particularly overseas, is treated while still in rough form, such that every single piece that comes out of it is going to have added synthetic ingredients.
Age and “natural” condition tend to go hand in hand these days. The older a piece of turquoise, the less likely it is to have been treated, particularly prior to the 1980s. If you find an old cabochon that you know to be in its natural state, regardless of mine source, hang onto it and have it appraised (by a reputable gemologist expert in turquoise) before giving any thought to selling it. You may have something very valuable indeed on your hands.
There are a couple of issues with buying old natural turquoise, however, and you need to be aware of them. One of the main reasons for treating turquoise is to increase its stability and resistance to fracture; after all, turquoise is a rather fragile stone. Turquoise with significant matrix, while valuable on an aesthetic basis, is also more likely to be subject to fracture along the matrix lines, so you could wind up with a very valuable and expensive cabochon that breaks upon setting in a piece jewelry, perhaps rendering it near-worthless. Turquoise also discolors over time, especially with wear; it’s absorbent, and it picks up skin oils. As a result, an old deep blue Lone Mountain cabochon from the 1930s may now look seafoam green. Both of these factors — fracture potential and eventual discoloration — were primary drivers behind the development of the Zachery process and other forms of stabilization, as covered here just last week. And if they are concerns for you, you may prefer to invest in turquoise that has been stabilized in some way. The closer to the Zachery process the treatment method is, the less detectable it will be, and therefore the less of a hit the value of the stone will take compared to the same stone in its entirely natural state.
Unfortunately, some processors are not content with mere (and minimal) stabilization; instead, the inject extra polymers to make it “more perfect” (read: plasticky) and dye it to make the color more “intense” (read: entirely artificial-looking). As with cost, appearance is also an area where if it looks to good to be true (especially for the price), it probably is: Turquoise that looks and feels like plastic looks and feels that way for a reason. It’s no longer anything that can reasonably be called “turquoise.” Now, there are forms of stabilized turquoise that are purposely dyed, such as Mohave Green and Mohave Purple; these are deliberately injected with dyes of a color not found in nature, and their originators are honest about what they are. Not all resellers, however, are so honest. They are exotic-looking, and if you’re attracted to the psychedelic colors and don’t mind the fact that they’re dyed, then by all means, you should buy them; simply go into the purchase with no illusions about what the stones really are.
Finally, composites and outright fakes: As we also discussed last week, there’s something called “reconstituted turquoise,” sometimes [mis]labeled “chalk turquoise.” Reconstituted turquoise is in fact made of chalk turquoise, bit also of the dust and detritus from cutting and cabbing; treated with polymers and heat, the bits of turquoise are molded into a partially-synthetic substance that itself can be cut and cabbed. It does contain real turquoise, but it’s been altered by the addition of synthetic materials. And, of course, there is an entirely synthetic material that is sometimes [mis]marketed as either “chalk” or “reconstituted turquoise,” but it’s entirely fake. Check last week’s edition for tips on how to tell the difference.
CHOOSING YOUR STONES
So, ultimately, how do you decide? At the outset, I warned that even the process and standards for valuating turquoise, much less for buying it, are very subjective. It all comes down to what looks and feels right to you.
Of course, there are the threshold questions that you’ll need to answer: What can you afford? What size and shape do you need for its intended purpose? What color and.or matrix pattern, if any, speak to you? Do you care more about where it comes from, or about what it looks like? Is it more important that it be all-natural, or that it be long-lived?
Once you know the answers to those questions, you can decide what types of turquoise are the best fit for you. But a word of warning: Turquoise is incredibly seductive. Be prepared for your opinions and tastes to change as you look at, touch, and get a sense of the stones from which you’re choosing.
Sometimes, you don’t find the stone.
Sometimes, the stone finds you.
Next week: The final edition in this series, and a preview of coming attractions in Wings’s work for 2015.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
