On the topic of turquoise you seem to be quite knowledgeable on this subject. Therefore I was wondering where I can gain some of that knowledge and what sites you might recommend for me to educate myself on knowing the difference between the various types of turquoise.
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I will start with North American Turquoise.
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It is the most expensive turquoise available and usually sells by the carat if it is medium to high grade material.
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If I see a strand of beads being sold as North American turquoise and the price is under a couple hundred dollars, I become very suspect of the true origin of the turquoise.
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There is turquoise mined in China that is similar in color to some of the North American mines that some vendors attempt to pass off as turquoise from the US.
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When a stone is made into a bead, there is a lot of loss shaping the bead, so normally, the better quality material is not made into beads.
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The medium to low grade turquoise is stabilized and usually color shot too. This is the turquoise they threw away back in the 1960's and early 70's.
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Only about 5% of all turquoise mined is considered gem grade material, that is is both hard enough to work into cabochons and the color is good too. The rest is medium to low grade material.
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In the Magpie store, there is some natural Fox mine chips and some Sleeping Beauty chips also. These are medium grade, yet natural as they are only chips.
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The way turquoise is graded in the states is like this:
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Natural turquoise: untreated, high grade gem quality used mainly in cabochons, and very upscale jewelry design.
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Stabilized turquoise: medium grade turquoise that has resin added, usually under pressure, to make the material hard enough to work into beads.
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Stabilized and color shot: medium to low grade turquoise that is both stabilized and color shot to enhance the color.
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Reconstituted: the powder is swept up, mixed with resin and formed into beads.
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Block: material that has been stabilized, color shot and pressed into blocks to make into beads.
That is the basics of turquoise in a very general way.
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For the past few years, there is all kinds of dyed blue, white, pink, orange, red, etc., stone coming out of China that is labelled as stabilized turquoise. Some of it has copper or black colored lines (fake matrix) on the surface of it. Most of this product is dyed magnesite or something of that sort. Not turquoise at all.
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There was a big problem in Tucson at the gem and mineral show around this stuff 2 years ago as many Chinese vendors were passing that stuff off as turquoise. It was tested and this year many vendors were required to fully disclose the product.
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Another thing they are doing from China is calling turquoise that has been clear stabilized as natural turquoise. According to the standards in this country, it is not natural turquoise, but clear stabilized.
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It is nice turquoise and affordable, yet it is not natural. The Ma'anshan AB nuggets in the stores are from China. Szarka has been dealing with this vendor for the past 10 years. This is low grade mine run that is color shot and stabilized. It is very affordable and she's sold literally a ton of it.
The larger oval nuggets are mainly Hubei from China, most being clear stabilized. Nice for the price.
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Magpie does sell some faux turquoise in white, or sometimes in blue too, and it is identified as dyed magnesite , or wannabe turquoise.
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If you google turquoise mines, American turquoise, turquoise treatments, etc., you will come up with more info than you can imagine. The information is out there. I hope this helps a bit.
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