Good morning all My name is Quentin Cox
I’m new to the site. I’m just checking to see if there’s anyone locally close to the Louisville KY 40205. That could look at some turquoise pieces that I have one looks like a squash necklace and I’m just curious to find out more about these. Thank you.
Hi Quentin,
Welcome to the group! Those are some unique pieces of art!
Burleson is listed in the IGS Business Listing section for Lexington. I am not sure if anyone is in Louisville.
You can also locate a local gem/mineral club there, who would know the community and recommend people/shops with turquoise experience.
Cheers!
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Thanks for your help!! I’m going to contact them today. Thanks again for your time helping me it’s greatly appreciated
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Your welcome! Hopefully you find the answers you are looking for.
If you haven’t read this article here on IGS yet about Turquoise, it is a good information resource on the gem material.
-Troy
the turquoise stones will be really hard to value as good quality turquoise in old Navajo jewerly came from many mines in AZ, NM… every mine that had them had varying degrees of matrix and a wide range of colors… the jewerly themselves are far more valuable than the stones. some of the squash blossom necklaces look like “new pawn” style… these date back to the 1960’s and 1970’s… prices at consignment stores, antique shops run 1 to 6K for a necklace… most of the other stuff looks more modern. one of the turtles is a cowrie shell…cowrie shells are common and have no value in and of themselves. Modern Navajo craftsmen are recreating the old styles so this can be one area of confusion…many however are signed by the jeweler now, whereas older jewerly was not marked as to either maker or origin… I am having the same problem with valuing three squash blossom necklaces that I bought 30 years ago at a yardsale… I am sure that they are new pawn style… I will have to take them to the Albuquerque Turquoise Museum for an appraisal…
I have the same problem with valuing some “new pawn” squash blossom necklaces… the antique value of the jewerly for collectors far surpasses the value of the silver and stones themselves… I bought three of them, along with a ring and bracelet at a yardsale 30 years ago…the seller gave me all for 1K… I am absolutely sure of the style… similiar necklaces are selling in consignment stores, antiques shops and jewerly stores in Albuquerque for anywhere from 1-6K each… wholesale price I suspect is only half as much… still quite valuable. I will need to bring them to the Albuquerque Turquoise Museum for an appraisal, the next time I get to Albuquerque.
Turquoise sourced from AZ and NM came from huge open pit copper mines than have been long closed…most of the old turquoise was picked up by miners. Phelps Dodge Copper discourgage miners from wasting time by scrounging turquoise, interrupting large scale ore digging operations…some turquoise comes from these mines still, as the leasors have subleased turqouise mining to small companies… Kingman turquoise and Cerillos Turquoise as well as numerous other AZ mines come in varying shades of robin’s egg blue to light greenish yellow, all form the same mine… matrix material is also variable from the same mine…this makes the source extemely difficult to pinpoint by appearance only, but high quality hard turquoise from any of these sources is expensive, having been mined out… I have some Castle Dome rough without matrix and robbin’s egg blue…valuation would be high, but again what dollar amount is another question. I’ve been to Los Cerillos NM several times. In the 1980’s it was fenced off and claimed by a copper mining company that was going to strip mine and proces copper ore on site… Santa Fe Country refused a mining permit due to lack of water… the turquoise areas have been bought up in lots of 5- 10 acres… collecting on private property is for a fee… not much good is left on the surface…only small veins and dots in rock matrix… whatelse on the market orginating in the US is now from Nevada.
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Hello Quentin,
Bear in mind also that natural, untreated turquoise is much more valuable than stabilized turquoise and turquoise has been stabilized since the 1950s. As far as I know, even some stones from famous mines in the Southwest may be of variable quality, which means that some may be natural, while others were stabilized because they were too soft or porous. So the “new pawn” pieces that you have could be stabilized turquoise…or not. I don’t know any simple, nondestructive way to test for this. The only tests I know which don’t require a sophisticated lab are a hardness test or the famous “hot needle” test. Some folks I have bought rough from look at rough and tell you they know whether it is natural or not, but I’m not sure how they do this or whether it is reliable. I have some rough that is obviously chalky and other rough that is obviously quite hard, but some which I am puzzled by until I use the hot needle on it.
Also complicating the issue is the possibility that old jewelry has had the stones replaced at some point, for various reasons.
Sorry to have possibly created more doubt than certainty. -royjohn
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I am getting more confused than certain about turquoise the more I read about it. whether there’s matrix present, no matrix, color, mine of origin… the valuation is still mysterious. I’m not even considering stabilized turquoise, just hard natural. The only other stone that is just as difficult or even more so is jadeite jade. It seems like only a specialist in turquoise only would know how to value it. The artistic value and/or antique value of some of the pieces of jewelry shown is worth more than the stones themselves, as jewerly and not just a collection of stones. High quality turquoise would make them even more valuable. Do you have any thoughts on this?
have you had your jewerly pieces appraised or have gotten an estimate on them yet? If so, please let me know… I’m having the same problem. There’s no one here where I live that can evaluate jewerly… I the appraiser I contacted would only give me the stone valuation and melt down value of the silver… had no idea of antique or artistic value.