Since 200 B.C., turquoise has been used by southwest American Indian tribes. Turquoise stones OR Turquoise nuggets have been used in ceremonies, religion, trade, art, treaty negotiations, and jewelry such as the turquoise nugget necklace.
Today in the United States, turquoise jewelry is still being made by Zuni, Navajo, Hopi, and Santo Domingo as well as other tribes in the Southwest. The mineral deposit, turquoise, is considered to be the stone of life and good fortune. It’s also revered as a symbol of wealth by our Native American Indians and other cultures of the world. Native American Indian jewelry is created with turquoise set in silver or gold, beaded, set as cabochons, cut into finer pieces, carved into fetishes, hand-inlaid into the piece, or strung to make a Turquoise Nugget Necklace.
The various color forms of turquoise are attributed to the metals in the ground that surround it. Blue turquoise suggests the presence of copper and green turquoise forms where iron is present. The mother rock or host rock is matrix. It can be made from several different elements such as quartz, chert, pyrite, cuperite, and manganese oxide. Spider web turquoise is made up of small nuggets that are naturally cemented together with matrix or rock, and when the stone is cut and polished it resembles a spider web. Different turquoise mines produce varying colors and matrixes for a Turquoise Nugget Necklace.
It has been said that turquoise is the most valuable, non-transparent mineral in the jewelry trade, and has been mined since sometime around 6000 B.C. by early Egyptians. Beautiful ornamental creations have been made by Persian and Native American artisans. Recently, turquoise jewelry has regained its popularity. Experts in the field of gems and minerals believe the finest turquoise comes from Iran; however, this statement has been challenged by some southwestern United States specimens. The word “turquoise” comes from a French word which means “stone of Turkey” and is the route that Persian material took on its way through Europe.
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