Green turquoise

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi,I heard somewhere that in the Ancient World, perhaps Egypt, a
classical writer wrote of treating stones in order to make them more
green. Can anyone give me the source or provide I would
be interested in any writings that discuss the desirability or
preference of green over blue, particularly Turquoise.

Thanks for your help, Sally in muggy Houston.

2

Hi, Sally. This isn’t really what you’ve asked for, but it might
interest you anyway: In antique jewellery, the wonderful mixes of
blues and greens we see in turquoise is usually the result of the
stones coming into contact with substances on the skin–perfume and
makeup being two very common ones. I remember one amazing Victorian
snake necklace, for example, that had a matching brooch. To my eyes,
the necklace was the more exquisite of the two pieces–not because it
was any better made, but because it looked ‘alive’ with rippling
gradations of light and dark. The brooch, which had [presumably]
never been worn in such a way as to have stones in contact with skin,
had all its stones in a perfect uniform blue. --Andy

3

If you can find an old copy of the Turquoise Blue Book, I think it
would answer your question. We used to deal in turquoise for the most
part a few years ago. We always carried a copy to our shows. Many
of the older mines had green or blue green turquoise
but as to color, it is usually a personal preference. Some people
call the King Mine which was in Manassa Colorado the "cadillac"
of turquoise but that is only some

If you can access the lapidairy journal website, it might have some
tidbits for you. I have heard of treated stones, but usually it is to
make cheap turquoise “look good” Howlite is also treated and dishonest
people have sold it as turquoise. The old number 8 mine near Tonopah
Nevada produced what is some of the most beautiful spider webbed
turquiose it ranged from blue to green but more was green than blue.
Mine has been closed for many years. Carico Lake Turquoise is also a
beautiful green, for the most part, mostly a blue-green which is more
green than blue. More later