Turquoise: The Mysterious Beauty

The mysterious beauty of Turquoise Jewelry has a timeless appeal. Turquoise has played an important role in southwestern jewelry and culture. It has been traded and mined in the southwest since pre-historic times.

A Pueblo Indian legend tells that turquoise stole its blue color from the sky – hence it is known as the “sky stone”. Each turquoise gem has its own character appeal or “zat”. Native American artists choose and create their jewelry around the gem.
But there is more to tell…The turquoise is ancient, yet again and again and in many different cultures it finds itself in fashion. In Egypt, grave furnishings with turquoise inlay were discovered, dating from approximately 3000 B.C. In the ancient Persian kingdom, the sky-blue gemstones were earlier worn round the necks and wrists as protection against unnatural death. If they changed color, the wearer was thought to have reason to beware the approach of doom.

The Persian scholar Al-Qazwini wrote: 'The hand that wears a turquoise and seals with it will never see poverty.'
Turquoises were often worn on the turban, and often surrounded with pearls, in order to protect their wearer against the 'Evil Eye'. As talismans, they adorned daggers, sabers and the bridles of horses. This is why you may see them from time to time in Practical Kabbalistic jewelry and other items.
It was not until the time of the crusades that they finally came to Europe, before the discovery of the New World in America. And indeed it is from that period that the name 'turquoise' originates, meaning 'Turkish'.
The Aztecs in Mexico used to decorate their ceremonial masks with the stone which was holy according to their beliefs.

At all times and all over the globe, turquoises have been worn as natural protection against the powers of darkness. If in earlier times they preserved horse and rider from unexpected falls, they are regarded today as the protective stone of pilots, air crews and other occupational groups who might be exposed to an especially high degree of risk.
Today, in modern gemstone therapy, those suffering from depression are recommended to wear a turquoise chain or bracelet with turquoise beads. And not only for depression, fashion turquoise bracelets are both relaxing and beautiful, and can be found in a wide variety of designs.

The blue comes from copper, the green from iron. It is a copper aluminum phosphate with a hardness of 6.
It occurs in nature in a whole range of hues from the sky-blue to grey-green; and it's mostly found in places where there's a higher concentration of copper in the soil.