The Gemstone Turquoise Blue and green are two of the most popular colours among people and with nature the sea, rivers, the sky and plants are all green or blue or turquoise, a greeny-blue. Turquoise is the colour of the open sea. It is not a difficult colour to like and it matches with most colour schemes. Turquoise is not a especially rare gemstone, but it is rare in its finest state. It is mined in many countries including the USA, Iran, India and China. The name turquoise derives from an old French word for Turkey or Turkish, because it was first brought into Europe from Iranian or Persian mines via Turkey. Turquoise is easily smashed and is just slightly stronger than glass, having a hardness of 6. Turquoise is one of the oldest mined gemstones and still, most of the world's mines are small and hand-worked. Some of the Persian mines are 2,000 years old and still being worked. However, the most ancient mines are on the Sinai Peninsular and they are known to be at least 3,000 years old as they were worked in the days of the pharaohs. The colour varies through greens and blues because of the existence or minerals. If there is more copper in it the stone will become bluer and if there is aluminium or iron, it will be greener. Iranian turquoise is some the best quality in the world and is used mainly in the jewelery business. Turquoise from some other locations, like the south-western states of America, is of inferior grade and is too chalky and powdery for this use. Regrettably, chemists have found ways to enhance this gemstone, so that unless you are an expert or buying from a reliable source, you could easily end up buying low grade turquoise that has been treated. This is the case with other gemstones as well. Some of the tricks that they use are: Chemicals can be used to deepen the natural colour of the gem Resin can be soaked into the pores of porous, friable, low-grade turquoise to 'stabilize' it - ie prevent it flaking and crumbling. Completely untreated, natural turquoise of pleasing appearance is very rare and so very expensive. It would be very difficult to impossible for a layman to detect whether a stone has been treated or not, but you are unlikely ever to come across any. Whatever, grade of turquoise you have, you will have to take care of it because it is quite soft, easily scratched and fairly easily crushed to powder. Therefore, do not leave it to rattle about in your bag and store it wrapped on its own in a cool, dark box. Extremes of temperature may injure it too. Turquoise is naturally porous, even if it has been drenched in resin, so do not allow oils or perfumes to soak into it.
If you have to clean a turquoise, you will need nothing but a soft cloth and warm, but not hot, water. Dry the stone right away after cleaning with a second soft duster. Be careful not to scratch the surface with the dirt that you are cleaning off. Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, and is now involved with Birthstones. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Jewellry and Watches.