My grandmother moved to Las Vegas in the early 50s and collected turquoise jewelry until my grandfather’s death in the early 80s. In her jewelry box she had these three pieces that I suspect she planned to have made into something. They all pass the fingernail and acetone test. They’re heavy and cold—definitely not plastic. Should I take them to someone to assess the grade/quality index? I think we would like to have them made into jewelry, but I don’t want to choose a design that would use them poorly. There’s 182 grams total. How valuable might these be? Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise.
1 Like
I should add—they seem stabilized and probably dyed. I’m not thinking they’re treasure. I’m mostly wondering if they are worth cutting and making into jewelry. Thanks for any opinions!
2 Likes
find a little silver bowl and display them on a side table? that was my first thought.
2 Likes
Thanks! That’s the conclusion I was coming to. My parents have a bowl of colorful rocks they’ve bought as souvenirs on their travels that the grandkids love to play with. These can go in there.
For other neophytes who find this question in the future, I’ve learned that most turquoise is stabilized, but “gem quality” turquoise isn’t dyed (and the dye isn’t just on the surface, it’s in the stabilizing agent throughout the turquoise). You can find a lot of commercial sterling jewelry that uses stabilized and dyed stone to keep costs down. Given the cost of silver and an artist’s time, for custom jewelry, we’d want a higher quality stone.
I realize the above is completely basic to everyone here, but the internet is rapidly filling with AI slop and online shops are full of charlatans. It took me hours to figure that out. I really appreciate how supportive this forum is.
4 Likes
Just so you know, stabilized turquoise is not necessarily dyed. I have a number of pieces of jewelry that have stabilized turquoise which is not dyed. Stabilization in itself is not a bad thing. Of course we would all prefer natural, but I have pieces with stabilized turquoise that I love, however in general I like to stay away from dyed. And I have a couple pieces of natural turquoise that have completely changed color, because they weren’t as hard.
You can also have natural turquoise that is not gem quality, but is not stabilized. When you see color change in your turquoise that is more likely the case. Gem quality natural turquoise would not be nearly as likely to have any color change.
4 Likes
Thank you! That makes sense! The pictures in other posts on the forum have been a big help. It’s strange to realize you’ve been looking at turquoise your whole life and probably none of it has been “natural”.
2 Likes