Treated Turquoise
“Is your turquoise natural?” This question comes up so often that we felt that we needed to answer it up front on the home page. Most of our turquoise is stabilized and some is colored during the stabilization treatment. To the best of our knowledge we do not have any reconstituted or untreated natural turquoise on this website.
Natural, gemstone grade turquoise that has enough density, size and color to be cut, polished and set in jewelry, represents only about 15 percent of all turquoise available on the market. All other turquoise must be treated in some way to make it commercially usable. The various methods of treating turquoise include:
- Dyed, in which blue, green, yellow or other colors are added to deepen the stone’s color or to totally change its appearance.
- Reconstituted, in which fragments of turquoise created in the cutting process of making jewelry are pulverized. This powder is put into forms the shape of bricks and mixed with a hardener. Dye may be added in the process. The result is turquoise in a new structure that can be cut, polished and made into jewelry.
- Stabilized, in which turquoise is combined with a colorless hardener and bonding agent to harden the stone and make it viable for producing jewelry. This process is only about 60 years old.
- Oiled or waxed, in which the stone is soaked and cooked in oil or wax to harden the stone and deepen the color. This process has been used for thousands of years.
If it were not for these processes, there would not be a viable turquoise jewelry industry today. However, it is incumbent on the seller of turquoise to reveal to buyers the treatment used for any piece of jewelry they offer for sale, if known. It is prudent to assume that the turquoise is treated unless it is specifically represented as natural and untreated.
Attribution: Lowry/Lowry "Turquoise Unearthed" Rio Neuvo Publishers, 2002
