Learning About Turquoise at the Turquoise Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Eric and I want to buy turquoise jewelry and know that it is not "fake."  The thought of spending serious money on turquoise only to find out is is made of a synthetic material makes me a timid shopper. After reading a few educational turquoise websites, we are aware that numerous stores and individual sales people misrepresent the turquoise they sell, at high prices.

Eric continued his search online and found numerous reviews for the Turquoise Museum in Albuquerque.  The museum offers tours focused on educating visitors on the many varieties of turquoise and the questions to ask to purchase turquoise with confidence.

Tours of the Turquoise

Museum are by

appointment.

I ask if I can take photos and the answer is, "No."  The jewelry sold here is hand crafted by artists and the Museum protects their unique designs from being copied.  I am using photos of the interior of the museum from the internet for this post.

The Turquoise Museum

sells jewelry crafted by

Native Americans.

A close up of one of

the jewelry

counters.

Eric & I are two of four visitors

to walk through this tunnel

to the back of the museum.

We see displays from turquoise mines from all over the world.  There's a lot to learn about this porous, sometimes brittle gemstone. Its chemical structure is hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminum .  

Turquoise is often found in conjunction with copper. It comes in different colors, depending on the mineral composition of its "host rock."  Copper gives turquoise blue hues.  The turquoise we saw while visiting the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum in Bisbee,  Arizona varied from robin's egg blue to vibrant midnight blue. Iron gives the gemstone greenish hues.  It is often found in semi arid parts of the world.  The "veins" 

are the inclusion of host rock and is referred to as matrix.

Our tour group looks at turquoise from around the world.  We ask questions about the gemstones and move onto the discussion of what "real turquoise is."  There's imitation turquoise, "stabilized turquoise," "color treated turquoise" and natural turquoise.  Imitation turquoise can be a colored chalk, plastic, glass.  "Color treating," or dying turquoise can produce gemstones with a more sought after robin's egg blue color.   Brittle turquoise 

can be treated with epoxy, resin, liquid plastic to fill it the spaces of the gemstone to "stabilize" it.  

Natural turquoise is a legal term stating that the gemstone has not been altered from its original state. The gemstone has been polished and cut into shapes before being made into jewelry.  Natural turquoise is porous and can change color over time as it is worn 

and handled, absorbing the wearer's body oils.  It is highly prized and its price is reflects its rarity.

There are hands on displays

for visitors to explore.

Which of the stones in the

displays are natural?

It's time to apply what we learned this afternoon.  When purchasing turquoise there are many questions to ask and have answered.  They include:  Is this stone natural, treated in some way, imitation?  The cost should vary depending on the answer.  Where is this gemstone from?  The region of origin and name of the mine gives the shopper lots of information.  Who is the artist who created the piece?  The price of a price of hand crafted jewelry is dependent on the answer to this question. 

A turquoise purchase includes: a written receipt with the name of the mine, artist, state of the gemstone: natural or stabilized, the date and place of sale as stated by law.  Check out the New Mexico Indian Arts and CraftsAct.  

Eric and I shopped at the Turquoise Museum following our tour.  

My natural turquoise stone

came from the Veritas Mine

in Chile.

It was hand crafted by Navajo

artist Ilene Chiquito.

Eric looked at bracelets and rings, but didn't find the perfect piece for him.  He will continue to shop and I hope he finds something that suits him.