I’m sorry but this is a terrible photo that masks the true colors, matrix, and polish. Can you retake in natural daylight free of shadows, and crop tighter to display the stones?
My general answer is that you have to have a trusted source who can tell you when and where the cabs came from. Damale turquoise is rare and expensive, and it should have the expected provenance for it, or else you’re winging it. My one stellar Damale turquoise bracelet was of Tony Cotner’s old stash, so definitive. Unfortunately, in the resale environment people selling either don’t truly know and/or make up stories about what they have.
It is in natural daylight….but I hear you, I’ll get a more zoomed in photo that actually shows the polish/reflectiveness, and the other cabs that look more obviously like variscite. No one was trying to rip me off, i got them for very little from a woman emptying out an entire stash and she made no claims, and yes my cuff and ring that look similar have provenance, this does not IE why I am asking. I own Tony cotner material myself, I am not a total noob here….
Yep that’s just evening light….
And a couple other damele pieces I had that are probably damele variscite.
Anyway I was asking if there was a way to tell in general, not necessarily these cabs specifically. I know Turquoise Matrix (the seller) for instance labels some of his damele as variscite and some as turquoise, and so was simply curious if there were tells beyond getting the stones tested at west Texas analytics or something.
As @chicfarmer stated true Damale turquoise is rare. I’ve read that most true Damale turquoise was mined in the 70’s and what is currently produced is variscite. The small mine, outside Austin NV, produced turquoise, faucite and variscite, sometime from the same vein. Turquoise and variscite are closely related but chemically different. Variscite, does not contain copper which gives turquoise its characteristic blue green color.
I don’t know of a definitively way to visually tell the difference. I have a cuff purchased around 30 years ago stated to be Damale. Since most true Damale turquoise comes from older collections, without documentation of the source, I really don’t know if mine is Damale.