Turquoise Necklaces, Earrings, Pendants & Bracelets

Handmade in the southwest the turquoise jewelry displayed here is mixed modern and traditional styles. High grade wire, sterling silver hooks and clasp with sterling silver cone and beads to top them off. Silver and gold both are a common element to pair with the beauty of turquoise. Turquoise come in a variety of shades of blue, green and now even white. The traditional color is blue, some old turquoise jewelry worn for many years the natural turquoise will fade to a greenish blue.

Also see Carved Turquoise Jewelry- Zuni Frog
Check Out Our Southwest Style Liquid Silver Jewelry!

Turquoise is a traditional material that was either the focal point or an enhancing stone for many types of historic and modern jewelry. Many copper. silver and gold mines dot the southwest. Some of them have a nice deposit of high grade turquoise and other heavy metal associated minerals that are used for item of intrinsic value. Some of the best turquoise is silicated making it very hard, yielding it highly cutable and durable. Most of the turquoise found is of a softer grade, even turquoise chalk is gathered (they must stabilize the chalk with a glue for it to be useable in jewelry form). Small bits of natural turquoise that are too small to use in jewelry are ground up into a flour like quality and mixed with glue to form blocks of the material, other small bits are just put in glue to make up a myriad of bits scattered in the glue (old style). Due to the high volume of copper mine throughout the world there is a great deal of high and low qualities of turquoise. China produces a huge amount of the material and they also have the man power to clean, grade and prepare the turquoise for jewelers around the world, they stabilize, drill, polish, string into hanks, grind pieces into different shapes like disks and shapes like animals and natural fauna. China then exports their product world wide.

 New Mexico has some high grade deposits of turquoise some are still being mined today at good profit. High demand on the reservations and local artist and businesses rely on a steady flow of the mineral. Tourist traps, pawn shops, swap meets are all good places to find many different qualities, and possibly even a treasure can be found. Ghost towns of mining days gone past can be an adventure, great for photographers and the fossiker alike, just be sure to take plenty of water. In the mine sites there the dumps where the miners put the overburden material as the drove their shafts and adits into the mountains and hills, if you scout around these dumps you can find trace and bit of turquoise and other associated materials. Be sure you are not on private property. Finding little pieces or even a large one can be fun and rewarding experience, if you don't find anything just enjoy the day and the lunch you brought with you.