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Turquoise is the birthstone of December &
anniversary gemstone for the 11th year
of marriage.
Turquoise, the robin's egg blue gemstone worn by
Pharaohs and Aztec Kings, is probably one of the oldest
gemstones known. Yet, only its prized blue color, a color
so distinctive that its name is used to describe any color
that resembles it, results in its being used as a gemstone.
Turquoise has been, since about 200 B.C., extensively
used by both southwestern U.S Native Americans and
by many of the Indian tribes in Mexico. The Native
American Jewelry or "Indian style" jewelry with turquoise
mounted in or with silver is relatively new. Some believe
this style of Jewelry was unknown prior to about 1880,
when a white trader persuaded a Navajo craftsman to
make turquoise and silver jewelry using coin silver. Prior
to this time, the Native Americans had made solid
turquoise beads, carvings, and inlaid mosaics.
Recently, turquoise has found wide acceptance among
people of all walks of life and from many different ethnic
groups. The name turquoise may have come from the
word Turquie, French for Turkey, because of the early
belief that the mineral came from that country (the
turquoise most likely came from Alimersai Mountain in
Persia (now Iran) or the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, two
of the world's oldest known turquoise mining areas.)
Another possibility could be the name came from the
French description of the gemstone, "pierre turquin"
meaning dark blue stone.
Chemically, a hydrated phosphate of copper and
aluminum, turquoise is formed by the percolation of
meteoric or groundwater through aluminous rock in
the presence of copper. For this reason, it is often
associated with copper deposits as a secondary mineral,
most often in copper deposits in arid, semiarid, or desert
environments.
For thousands of years the finest intense blue turquoise
in the world was found in Persia, and the term "Persian
Turquoise" became synonymous with the finest quality.
This changed during the late 1800's and early 1900's
when modern miners discovered or rediscovered
significant deposits of high-quality turquoise in the
western and southwestern United States. Material from
many of these deposits was just as fine as the finest
"Persian."
Today, the term "Persian Turquoise" is more often a
definition of quality than a statement of origin, and the
majority of the world's finest-quality turquoise comes
from the United States, the largest producer of turquoise.
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