Retailer's Guide to Buying Authentic Turquoise
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PAGE 36 A GUIDE TO WHAT’S TURQUOISE NEXT? PAGE 26 Te Industry Looks Ahead to 2021 EQUESTRIAN TRENDS TIPS FOR BETTER BRANDING NEW BOOT INNOVATIONS JANUARY 2021 THE SOURCE Te Ultimate Buying Guide for Western & English Resources RETAILER’S GUIDE TO BUYING We consult the experts on accurately identifying, evaluating, and preserving this cherished resource. By Annie Wiles 36 Western & English Today Turquoise I S T H E DEFINITION OF TIMELESS. Possibly the earliest stone known to man, it appears in our old sacred texts from across the world, in Egyptian mummy tombs, and in some Native American mythol- ogies. Long believed to have mystical properties and healing powers, turquoise is one of our most cherished natural resources. Now, it is a draining one. In the past few years, environmental protection laws restricting the mining of turquoise have caused huge increases in demand and prices. “Turquoise is only going to continue to become more rare and more valuable in our lifetime,” says Amanda Alexander, creative director of Peyote Bird Designs. “It’s really important to treasure the material available to us, to use it smartly, and not waste it.” As natural turquoise increasingly becomes limited to vintage pieces mined decades ago and extremely high-end items, and the industry relies more on selling stabilized turquoise, it can be difficult for consumers to know if what they are buying is the real deal, especially as price tags and tastes fluctuate so widely. Marty Colbaugh, owner of the Kingman Mine in Arizona, says tastes in turquoise are constantly shift- ing. Pure, veinless blue has waned in favor of heavily matrixed, more irregular stones. And although—or perhaps because—each piece of turquoise is unique, this mercurial stone can be easily faked. (OPPOSITE PAGE) SHUTTERSTOCK; (THIS PAGE) COURTESY SUNWEST SILVER SUNWEST COURTESY (THIS PAGE) SHUTTERSTOCK; (OPPOSITE PAGE) Miners and wholesalers urge retailers to work only with known quantities they trust. In this guide to buying authentic turquoise, we break down types you might buy, what variables you might look for, and PHOTOGRAPHY: which fakes to avoid. BUYING Turquoise Turquoise spans vastly varied grades, qualities, and price points. NATURAL: The most valuable and HARDNESS: rare type, most natural turquoise on the Like many semi- market today is in pre-1960 jewelry. WHAT TO precious materials, turquoise is rated Turquoise is naturally soft and porous, on its hardness scale. and only the hardest-grade stones can LOOK FOR COLOR: be left natural if they are to be used in Ranging from mottled ocean jewelry; much of what’s mined today There’s no green to pure lagoon blue, sponge- must be stabilized before it is carved. right or wrong like natural turquoise can change over time; stabilization prevents this. STABILIZED: Most turquoise on the answer—Alexander MATRIX: market is stabilized. It has a soft—almost recommends ignoring trends and The veiny effect—coming chalky—texture, is less likely to crack, going with what you like: “Appreciate in ink-black, ashen, brown, white, red, and will keep its color. “If there weren’t variance and appreciate imperfection. orange, and even gold, depending stabilized turquoise,” Alexander says, Look for a unique and special piece on the minerals, altitude, and host “turquoise wouldn’t be available on the that speaks to you.” Here are three rock — can present in spiderwebs, market.” Colbaugh, whose grandfather ways professionals judge stones: rivulets, or smudges. was the first to stabilize turquoise with LANDER BLUE plastic, argues that stabilized turquoise BLUE GEM NUMBER EIGHT is no less valid than natural. In fact, there’s evidence that turquoise has been STORMY stabilized going back to its earliest MOUNTAIN NEVADA history; Egyptians used to impregnate BLUE FOX the sponge-like stones with melted RED MOUNTAIN beeswax. BLUE DIAMOND COLOR-ENHANCED: Some mines color-enhance during the stabilization GODBER/BURNHAM MANASSA process. Color enhancement is hard INDIAN MOUNTAIN to detect with our current technology, ROYSTON according to Alexander; one way to tell is CANDELARIA to look at historic yields for different mines and compare. Color-enhanced stones are PILOT KINGMAN popular, with a lower price point. MOUNTAIN BRICK: Made of small, otherwise un- LONE MOUNTAIN usable chips of turquoise that have MORENCI been molded together with resin, brick SLEEPING BEAUTY turquoise is available at a fraction of the TYRONE price of natural. PICK BISBEE A MINE RSTOCK This map shows 20 of the most popular U.S. turquoise mines in operation today, SHUTTE according to the Albuquerque Turquoise Museum. Does it matter which mine your turquoise is from? According to Colbaugh, no. “Every piece of turquoise should be judged by the quality of the stone itself,” he argues. “Mother Nature didn’t know there were borders when she created everything.” PHOTOGRAPHY: HOW TO IDENTIFY NATIVE-MADE TURQUOISE JEWELRY ami Mohammed Rasheed, owner of Desert Indian Traders in Gallup, New Mexico, is something of an expert in Native American jewelry. In fact, his family is one of the first Native American manufacturers and wholesalers. His Sfather, who opened shop in 1974, was one of the original traders in the collection Zuni: The Art and the People. You don’t have to be this much of an expert to identify true Native American jewelry—but you do have to educate yourself and train your eye, because the fakes FAKE OUT floating around on the market can be extremely difficult to catch. Since Native Americans in the 1990s taught Chinese manufacturers how to make their jewelry, Amanda Alexander, they’ve been able to duplicate the craft to a T from overseas. “That’s why it’s so creative director important to deal with people you trust,” Rasheed says. at Peyote Bird HOW THE PROBLEM IS BEING ADDRESSED Designs, on Rasheed says in the past three to four years, the problem with overseas copycats has lessened due to the government stepping up. As shipping and Chinese labor laws identifying three have increased prices, it’s also become less profitable to make fakes. Many fakes may common turquoise cost as much as the real deal. posers on the WHAT TO LOOK FOR market Almost all Native Vintage jewelry Americans will stamp their (1930s–’60s) wasn’t signed, jewelry with “sterling” and but if a new item is not their initials or name. Zunis tend to signed, there’s probably engrave their jewelry. something wrong with it. If a high-end piece Price goes with quality. uses compressed If it looks like it’s too 925 is a Mexican and stone, it’s likely from good to be true, it is. European stamping. Native overseas. Americans do not use it. HOWLITE: Easily dyed, Howlite is a known turquoise imitator. The WHAT’S HARDEST TO COPY giveaways? Its skinny black matrix with no variance, lack of color The Navajo’s big Unique freeform stones, variation, and the “clacky” sound it nugget stones with as used by Desert Indian makes against glass—nothing like distinctive silver leaf- Cabochon work Traders; it’s easier to copy the thump of softer turquoise. work and stamp-outs. (inlay is easier to copy) things that look the same. WHITE BUFFALO: The trendy WHAT TO DO so-called “white turquoise” is in truth mostly dolomite or calcite. There’s Ask questions and make sure you nothing wrong with this stone, it just Buy from a reputable dealer. understand what you are buying. isn’t turquoise; so be wary of vendors claiming that it is. WHAT TO DO “BLOCK” TURQUOISE: COURTESY LAUREN C. KERRIGAN; SHUTTERSTOCK C. LAUREN COURTESY “For Native American jewelers, their work—their design—is their only income,” Rasheed says. “A Although even some major retailers lady who makes a sun-faced ring, sun-faced necklace, sun-faced pendant—if you buy a copy at sell it as real turquoise, this is the an undercut price, you’ve put her out of her whole way to make a living. It’s not just hurting the worst imitation, and the easiest to culture, it’s taking food out of people’s mouths. The consequences are very direct.” spot—it’s just plastic. PHOTOGRAPHY: 40 Western & English Today.