Yellow Turquoise, Purple Turquoise…
Posted by Leah on Feb 17, 2006
Turquoise is generally a bluish/greenish color, with some matrix that is brown or black. So what are these stones for sale called yellow turquoise and purple turquoise?
While I can’t answer that question definitely, I can shed a little light on the subject. Turquoise doesn’t come in purple, at least not from nature. Purple turquoise may very well by dyed turquoise, but don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that bright, almost magenta colored stone is natural.
Yellow turquoise, on the other hand, is trickier. I’ve heard that there is a rare variety of turquoise that is yellow in color. The keyword here is rare — and so-called yellow turquoise beads are most definitely not rare. Most of the beads I’ve seen that people are calling yellow turquoise don’t even really look like turquoise to me. Sure, they have some matrix, but a lot of stones have matrix. A yellowish stone with matrix does not equal yellow turquoise.
Why do I care about this? Mostly for the same reasons I cared a few years ago about “Cherry Quartz” which turned out to be glass, and why it irritates me that so many greenish stones are being called jade. I want people to be honest about what they are selling, and I have a selfish motivation for that. If I buy something from a vendor, and I’m told that it’s yellow turquoise, I might use it in a piece of jewelry and go on to sell that piece of jewelry, all the while claiming that I made it with yellow turquoise. Although I haven’t intentionally mislead a customer at that point, there is a chance that if the customer finds out the stone is not what I said it was, that I could be found guilty of fraud. Besides, I just don’t think it’s nice to lie to people in order to get their money.
Sometimes customers will ask my what kind of stone or shell I’ve used in a piece of jewelry - and often my answer is simply, “I’m not sure, but I thought it was pretty.” I like to use big stone beads - and big beads tend to be made of less expensive raw materials - stones like serpentine and various types of jasper and agate. These stones come in lots of different colors, and some of the jaspers and agates have really beautiful patterns in them - naturally. I see no reason to pretend that the pretty yellowish stone beads with the interesting matrix, which I bought in Tucson, are actually turquoise when I know full well that real turquoise beads (yellow or not) in that size would have been about ten times the money. Are my beads any less beautiful by not being turquoise? Absolutely not, and by being honest with my customers, I am able to build trust, and feel good about myself and the way I do business. Of course, I would like to know what these beads actually are, but that’s a whole different topic…
Hello I think that the way you feel about knowing that what you are buying should be what you are told the item is.And honesty to your customers can only come when you start beeing honest with our selves,follow are harts and then the other things will fall into place.We are just starting our store and web site and we fill the same about those thing also . I have been a silver smith off and on for about 16 years now we are going to start doing alot more to keep up going to all the pow-wows. About the purple turquoise i herd they are baking it in some way because of the copper its found with causes it to turn purple?.thats what i am trying to find out about. If you find anything else out you can find us at ottersdentradingpost.com. thanks otter.
Hi, I did find out a bit more on the purple turquoise. It’s not baked at all it’s it is turquoise ships and nuggets from the Kingman mine. They are broke down to a smaller size then they mix up epoxie and add purple dye.Then they heat it up. then that is mixed with the turquoise.The turquoise is so pourice its like a spunge and soaks all of the dye mixture up though out there for it is a consitence all the way through. and is supose to a really nice color to it.it is not ground into a powder form like some are saying. this is what I had found out last night after the first posting here. this comes from “LQGEMS” on a differant forum about purple turquoise So it is not baked to cause a reaction with the copper in the stone. thanks for the mail. Otter.
That’s really interesting - thanks for posting the information for me!
I bought some of the purple turquoise off eBay and no the sell
ers didnot say dyed The advertized it as real turquoise
shame cause it is pretty so I bought it anyway and when I make necklaces I will say this is what the seller told me but I am not sure I think it was dyed
not sure what else to say
bj
just about every stone, gemstone, on the planet is treated in some way before going to market. Sapphire is heated, emerald is oiled, Blue Topaz is heated or irradiated, and on and on and on. The turquoise you see that is the natural turquoise color, is probably crushed and reconstituted and you never knew it. If you are buying at a bead show, you can be almost certain that whatever you get is not in it’s natural state. That does not mean that it is not beautiful or wearable. It just means you can get it at a reasonable price so you can sell it or wear it and not spend your last dime. And what you tell your customers is exactly that. It is a form of (?) that has been treated. Or it could be glass like the “citrine” I bought from a show the other day, but it was nugget with some of them being little bueles (I think that is the word) . that tells me it is glass when I look closer.
Patty, I think you are right. I have some “smoky quartz” that is glass. Pretty glass, but glass all the same…I know most stones are treated, but at least an oiled emerald is still an emerald and not something completely different. Know what I mean?