Southwest Sterling
Turquoise – An Age-Old Favorite
Turquoise jewelry has gained in popularity over the past several decades. This is evidenced by a trip to the local jewelry store or a quick browse through one of the many online jewelry stores. The wide array of turquoise jewelry – both costume jewelry as well as fine jewelry is quite astounding! In North America, perhaps the most popular style in turquoise jewelry are the designs created by artists in the Southwestern United States, many of whom belong to the various Native American tribes that inhabited this region for a few thousand years. When the natives discovered turquoise about one thousand years ago in New Mexico, they were immediately captivated by the beauty of this stone, and started to use it in crude forms of jewelry. This typically consisted of putting together irregularly shaped pieces of stone to form necklaces and bracelets. With time however, they learned the art of cutting and polishing this stone, and this added significant beauty and sophistication to their creations. Today, turquoise jewelry from the southwest has a loyal fan all across the globe. In particular, sterling silver jewelry that has inlays of turquoise and other semi-precious stones found in this region are immensely popular with jewelry buffs in North America.
When the word “turquoise” is mentioned, it is hard NOT to imagine the desert vistas of the Southwest. Turquoise has become synonymous with the lifestyle, culture, and landscape of the Southwestern states like Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. It may therefore come as some surprise that North America is a relatively new comer to the world of turquoise jewelry. While turquoise discoveries on the continent date back to about a thousand years ago, turquoise was in face first discovered in Egypt nearly six thousand years ago! Specimens from mines in the Sinai were used to adorn the temples and palaces of ancient Egypt. The next major turquoise finds occurred in ancient Persia where this stone was found in trachyte formations. The mines in the Sinai have largely dried up, but Iran today continues to produce some of the best quality turquoise in the world. Turkey was the geographical bridge between Asia and Europe, and was instrumental in brining turquoise to European and Mediterranean civilizations. Over the years, turquoise jewelry designs have changed as techniques improved and people’s tastes in fashion changed. Today, stabilized turquoise is often combined with other gems to create new and affordable fashion jewelry designs. The addition of a turquoise pendant to a white pearl necklace adds pizzazz to an age-old classic, for example.
Chaco Canyon Southwest Sterling Silver Wolf Pack Ring