Turquoise Stone of Heaven

By Robert Beauford

With a research science background in both archeology and planetary science, as well as 20 years of experience as a silversmith, and gem and jewelry retailer, Robert Beauford offers a unique view of the geological, archeological, and cultural importance of the gemstone, turquoise. This book goes beyond offering answers to common questions about the stone. It provides an in-depth view of geology and gemology from within both the scientific community and the jewelry and gemstone trade.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Beauford
• Release date: May 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301199150

Robert Beauford

Dr. Beauford has spent 20 years as a silversmith, gallery owner, and bead and gemstone retailer, and has personally handcrafted over 10,000 pieces of jewelry. Robert has also pursued a lifelong interest in science. He holds a PhD in Space and Planetary Science from the University of Arkansas and a BS in archeology (anthropology) and minor in linguistics from Southern Methodist University. He has worked in field and laboratory settings in both archeology and paleontology, and is currently an active contributor as a research scientist in the study of meteorites and impact craters. Robert has served as the curator of meteorites at the University of Arkansas, as a writer and co-editor for Meteorite magazine, and as an occasional business, history, and science writer and guest lecturer for a variety of institutions and organizations.

Book preview

Turquoise

Stone of Heaven

By Robert Beauford

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Smashwords Edition

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Turquoise

Stone of Heaven

Copyright 2013 by Robert Beauford

Smashwords Edition, License Notes - This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or reproduced and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoy this book, please encourage your friends and family to purchase their own copies. To find out how, visit http://robertbeauford.net/ , where you can also discover other works that I have written. Thank you for supporting my hard work.

This book is intended as a work of non-fiction. Though some concepts must be simplified in an introductory work, an attempt has been made to communicate facts and concepts accurately and in a manner consistent with current scientific understanding.

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I would like to express my thanks to the many rock hounds, miners, gem dealers, jewelers, and authors who have openly shared their knowledge with me over the last 20 years of my involvement in the trade. I’ve always said that ‘rock people’ are the friendliest and most supportive people you will ever meet, and it still holds true. It is an honor to be able to compile some of the knowledge and wisdom that is so openly shared within this group. Thanks, also, to my consistent supporter, friend, and fieldwork companion, Jerri Stevens, to my friend and mentor, Dr. Derek Sears for his encouragement to aim higher, to my valued colleagues among the faculty and students at Southern Methodist University and at the University of Arkansas, and to Judy and Ed Beauford, who have supported and tolerated my endless stacks and piles of rocks and fossils longer than anyone else.

I hope you enjoy this book, and that it is useful to you.

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TURQUOISE

STONE OF HEAVEN

Table of Contents

Author’s Preface

Introduction – The Stone of Heaven

From Mine to Jewelry

Turquoise Geology

The Difference Between Rocks and Minerals

Color Variation in Turquoise

An Ancient and Scarce Resource

Is American turquoise better than Chinese turquoise?

Other Global Sources, Past and Present

White, pink, purple, yellow, and lavender turquoise?

Treatments and Fakes

Understanding Value and Price – What makes a gem?

Finding Meaning in a Stone

Caring For Turquoise and Turquoise Jewelry

Where to Learn More

Other Books by Robert Beauford

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Author’s Preface

Since 1995, I have made my primary income as a silversmith. In that time, I have built settings for literally thousands of individual gemstones. I see each stone as a work of art, crafted by nature, and revealed by the skilled hands of the lapidary, or stone cutter. My task, as a jeweler, has been to create frames for these individual expressions of nature’s unsurpassed artistry, and to make them available for wear. Much of the work I have done, including my earliest pieces, has been in silver and turquoise. I learned to make this kind of jewelry in Tres Piedras, a small town outside of Taos, New Mexico. Two decades into sharing this art form with customers, I find myself repeatedly answering many of the same questions about turquoise that I once asked others.

These questions include: What is turquoise, and how does it form? What makes one stone better than another? What is the difference between blue and green turquoise? What makes turquoise from Tibet or China different from turquoise mined in the United States? And, how can I tell if a piece of turquoise is real or not? The answers to some of these questions took years to learn and understand, and about some of these subjects, I am still studying.

Before I was a jeweler, I received a degree in anthropology. More specifically, I studied linguistics and archeology, with an emphasis on the Northern Rio Grande Anasazi, the historical and pre-historic people of the American southwest who built Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and several other well-known archeological sites. These were the ancestors of the modern Puebloan tribes, the same people that pioneered the use of turquoise in North America, and who initially explored and gathered stones at the United States’ oldest known turquoise mines.

In addition to studying and working (albeit briefly) as an archeologist, I have pursued a life-long professional and personal interest in mineralogy, gemology, and the geosciences. This has taken me in a number of exciting directions, including into both the wholesale and retail ends of the turquoise trade, into a variety of different scientific laboratories, and into the field, on many occasions, to quarry or collect stones at known or unknown sites for my own work.

When people that come into my small, retail store ask me questions about turquoise, my answers tend to be more detailed than they expect. This is because I love the subject. More than once, I have been told ‘You should write a book!" Well… here it is. I hope to share, in this book, not only my passion for a beautiful stone and the cultural and geological context that makes it a part of our lives, but also some of the practical answers to questions that customers have presented regarding the geology, ethnic and cultural history, quality distinctions, and global future of what has been known for hundreds of years as ‘the stone of heaven.’

Turquoise is one of the most beautiful of gemstones, as well as one of the most diverse in its appearance. The five examples shown in this photo reflect only a tiny range of what occurs in nature. Each stone can be viewed as an individual work of art, and the artists that set them as the makers of frames for nature’s unparalleled creativity.

Introduction - The Stone of Heaven

I decided to start making silver jewelry, initially as a hobby, twenty years ago. I knew nothing more about turquoise than that it was a rock. At the time, I lived in a small town about 2 hours or so from the silver and turquoise jewelry capital of the American southwest, Santa Fe. I purchased a book on basic jewelry making, went to a hardware store to buy the basic tools that I thought I might need, and then drove to the location of a nearby ‘jeweler’s supply’ store. These seemed like logical steps. I had noticed the ‘jeweler’s supply’ sign several times