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Post by vegasjames on Jul 18, 2024 8:00:03 GMT -5
Can anyone recommend good reference books for turquoise? Eye strain has been slowing down my attempts to sort, but I’ve noticed that some of the nuggets have distinctly different minerals in the matrix than others (haven’t identified them yet). If I can find a resource for common matrix for different mines, I might be able to narrow down the source. Willing to buy books if you know of one that has that info for older mines! Don't know the name of an books. Have one somewhere, but do no recall the name.
Here are a few information sites though:
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Post by cabby on Jul 18, 2024 8:22:16 GMT -5
vegasjames just out of curiosity, what does your rough end up looking like after your pseudo-Zachery process? One of the piles I’ve been making is rough that does not have any globs or even suspicious shiny spots (have piles for those), but it has a lot of flecks of fibrous mineral coating the surface and in nooks and crannies. These ones do smell like plastic when heated, but it made me wonder if the Zachery type process shows something similar on the rough, which would be undetectable after cutting of course.
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Post by cabby on Jul 18, 2024 8:39:25 GMT -5
Can anyone recommend good reference books for turquoise? Eye strain has been slowing down my attempts to sort, but I’ve noticed that some of the nuggets have distinctly different minerals in the matrix than others (haven’t identified them yet). If I can find a resource for common matrix for different mines, I might be able to narrow down the source. Willing to buy books if you know of one that has that info for older mines! Don't know the name of an books. Have one somewhere, but do no recall the name.
Here are a few information sites though:
Looked through all of the links. Had seen most of them before and gotten some ideas of what the various nuggets could be. Was hoping to narrow it down further based off the matrix minerals, but no one seems to want to talk about that! Was trying to decide if I want to buy a trim saw to work it myself or if it’s better to sell the nuggets… but starting to look like I won’t know what I have unless it’s cut and polished. |
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Post by vegasjames on Jul 18, 2024 9:10:53 GMT -5
vegasjames just out of curiosity, what does your rough end up looking like after your pseudo-Zachery process? One of the piles I’ve been making is rough that does not have any globs or even suspicious shiny spots (have piles for those), but it has a lot of flecks of fibrous mineral coating the surface and in nooks and crannies. These ones do smell like plastic when heated, but it made me wonder if the Zachery type process shows something similar on the rough, which would be undetectable after cutting of course. As far as turquoise goes, i have only used the process on the one piece I showed earlier. Most of what I dig is naturally hard, and therefore does not require stabilization. I mainly use it on some other soft stones.
Other than it did leave a bit of a white crust, it did not change the look of the rough.
Since they say that the process does not work on the real low quality stones, I may experiment with some lower quality, chalk stones. I have a couple of ideas that should make the process more functional for the much lower quality stones. Been bus working on my opal experiments right now.
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Post by vegasjames on Jul 18, 2024 9:19:35 GMT -5
Don't know the name of an books. Have one somewhere, but do no recall the name.
Here are a few information sites though:
Looked through all of the links. Had seen most of them before and gotten some ideas of what the various nuggets could be. Was hoping to narrow it down further based off the matrix minerals, but no one seems to want to talk about that! Was trying to decide if I want to buy a trim saw to work it myself or if it’s better to sell the nuggets… but starting to look like I won’t know what I have unless it’s cut and polished. Some turquoise is unique enough that it is easy to identify location it came from.
With so many mines though, there are also a lot of turquoise sources that can look a lot alike and have some of the same matrix.
As a side note, testing of a lot of what is being sold on the market as turquoise turned out not to be turquoise, but rather planerite.
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Post by cabby on Jul 18, 2024 10:14:39 GMT -5
vegasjames when you say unique enough, do you mean just the cut stones or also the matrix? I’ve noticed that when I find a lot of this black stuff on a nugget the turquoise is most likely blue and growing as a flat. Under magnification the black spots appear to be a bronze metallic mineral that can also be a black crystal, and a greyish lilac mineral is often coating it. Haven’t figured out what I am looking at yet, but seems distinct enough from the other nuggets that it could probably lead me to the mine, if I could learn what minerals are common in which mines! Since this stuff likes to grow as flats (at least my samples) I wouldn’t expect much, if any, matrix to help identify after cutting. 
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Post by vegasjames on Jul 18, 2024 20:28:43 GMT -5
vegasjames when you say unique enough, do you mean just the cut stones or also the matrix? I’ve noticed that when I find a lot of this black stuff on a nugget the turquoise is most likely blue and growing as a flat. Under magnification the black spots appear to be a bronze metallic mineral that can also be a black crystal, and a greyish lilac mineral is often coating it. Haven’t figured out what I am looking at yet, but seems distinct enough from the other nuggets that it could probably lead me to the mine, if I could learn what minerals are common in which mines! Since this stuff likes to grow as flats (at least my samples) I wouldn’t expect much, if any, matrix to help identify after cutting. By unique I am referring to turquoise that has a specific look that is different than many other turquoises, and that people would often not even realize is turquoise. For example, some of the Lander County turquoise, Blue Moon, Carico, Damele, etc. These are not your typical blue, spider webbed types of turquoise. Blue Moon for example is a yellow-green turquoise as is Damele and Orvil Jack. Dry Creek is another, as it is often very pale blue. One other comes from Northern Nevada, but I cannot recall the name. It is not only a very unusual color, but also orbed.
The bronze, metallic is likely pyrite found with some turquoise such as Morenci. The black crystals can be a number of minerals. Lilac color is likely some manganese mineral.
Your best bet would be to go to Facebook and join some of the turquoise boards. Some of the mine owners on there may recognize their material. Otherwise, trying to determine the mine can be a challenge in man cases as there are over 120 locations in Nevada lone to find turquoise.
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Post by tribeunited on Jul 19, 2024 11:02:17 GMT -5
this post got really interesting. I googled those green ones that vegasjames mentioned - such awesome stuff! Thanks vegasjames for all of the really cool information you shared! I really enjoyed learning a little bit more.  |
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Post by parfive on Sept 24, 2024 3:25:34 GMT -5
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 24, 2024 5:34:24 GMT -5
Great article! A grading system is sorely needed, not just for value but for ID.
I'm not a huge fan of turquoise. But, I do love some Hubei which is cheaper than the American and often better looking than what one can readily find of American mined turquoise ... on a budget. As far as turquoise goes, I do prefer the spider webbed variety even the water web which is not as distinct but demands a closer look.
I have seen and held some extremely expensive, top shelf turquoise. Honestly, I don't see why it is so valuable. But, that's just me.
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Sept 24, 2024 8:30:24 GMT -5
Interesting read! I would like to also know if anyone knows of a good reference book/articles about the Chinese Turquoise? I am not finding much online at all.
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