December's Birthstone - Turquoise: the choice of Cleopatra

By Chloe Tomasik - 06/12/2007

 When I was 10 years old I found out that my birthstone was a turquoise. I was absolutely heartbroken. Turquoises didn’t sparkle.

 

Later, as a jewellery dealer I was even more disappointed with the gem. I would buy beautiful Victorian necklaces pave set with ‘turks’ only to find they were unsaleable.

 

Turquoise apparently was a ‘limiting’ colour
to wear, and, unfortunately, it wasn’t a particularly flattering colour against pale skin either. The bluey green of the stones looked frankly harsh on the light English necks of potential customers but absolutely fabulous on golden Italian ones. (But Italians were considered lookers not buyers in those days )

 

I remember once having a wonderful gold Victorian snake necklace, set
with large turquoises in the head, in the heart hanging from the mouth
and along the back of the snake. A snake with its tail in its mouth was
a symbol of eternal love - the never ending circle -  so of course, was
a very popular  motif for the rather sentimental Victorians. "It’s
beautiful, but turquoises are so difficult to sell" was the comment
repeated ad nauseum. I got so fed up hearing this that - to my eternal
shame - I gouged out every stone and glued in garnets. I sold the snake
to a Hatton Garden dealer and three months later I saw my snake in his
shop window with opals instead of the garnets!

 

This made me realise that as everyone found it difficult to sell
turquoise jewellery I could buy it more cheaply and replace the stones
with half pearls - which were in keeping with the period - and sell on
with a quick profit quite easily. (Again not the most attractive of
admissions).

 

What changed my views? I went to Egypt, saw turquoise in its ancient
settings on the mask of the iconic Tutankhamen, found out that
Cleopatra had used ground turquoise for eyeliner, and that liquid
turquoise was used to cure cataracts! Suddenly, stones came alive for
me. And my interest in the facts, fantasies and history of gems was
further sealed when I learned that the oldest piece of jewellery was a
7000 year old turquoise bracelet found on the mummified arm of the
Egyptian Queen Zer.

 

So perhaps it wasn’t such a bad birthstone to have after all.

But back to basics. The name turquoise comes either from the French for
Turkish or from the French word ‘pierre turquin’ meaning dark blue
stone. Although, the stone was never mined in Turkey it was traded
there and brought back to Europe by the crusaders. Turquoise is
phosphate of aluminium, coloured by copper and traces of iron. The
turquoise of the ancient Egyptians came from the mines in the Sinai
peninsular. These are the oldest mines but turquoise has been mined all
over the world from Iran to America, China, South America, Afghanistan,
and Australia. The best colour is a robin’s egg blue which mainly comes
from Iran.

 

The colour can vary from this blue to almost green. The more iron, the
greener the colour and the less valuable the stone. Turquoise is
frequently found embedded in brown rocks which can form a spider like
web over the blue mineral. This is popular in arts and crafts and
ethnic jewellery set in silver.

 

It is a stone with a dramatic history. For the ancient Egyptians
turquoise was worn not only for decoration, as seen in the wonderful
jewellery of the time, but had huge spiritual significance. It was
linked to the Goddess Maat, who would enable the pharaohs to take on
the form of a god in the after life. By having the turquoise on his
mask Tutankhamen (in this case) was shown to be sufficiently developed
for this momentous step.

 

All cultures seem to have ascribed great qualities to turquoise. For
the native Indian tribes in America it had such power that no ceremony
could be performed with out it. In fact it was their most valued stone.

They believed that a bead fastened to hair would prevent lightening,
sudden thunderstorms and snake bites. If one of their hunters wore a
turquoise his arrow would fly straight to its target.  If worn next to
the skin the turquoise would absorb any blow and thus protect the rider
in battle. However, in South America - according to one of the
missionaries writing in the 1830s -  turquoise was so revered that it
was not allowed to be worn but only be offered to the Gods.

 

In Europe and Asia this theme of safekeeping continued with the belief
that the stone could protect against the evil eye. Today turquoises are
still twined into the manes of horses to ensure a safe journey in many
parts of Eastern Europe and Asia.

 

As with many stones turquoise had its medicinal uses. In 15th century
Europe powdered turquoise was found in every physician’s bag.  It was
apparently a powerful antidote to poison, scorpion bites and was
considered effective in banishing the pains arising from possession by
demons!

 

Like other opaque stones it is very easy to copy. In fact, the
Egyptians were the first to produce a turquoise substitute called
faience, basically blue pottery. Since then anything from blue glass to
ground turquoise, stained, oiled and waxed to improve its colour has
been used. Interestingly in the south western states of America it was
customary to enhance the strength of a good, but slim sliver of
turquoise by putting a backing on it. Amazingly early backing materials
were the steel casings of old model T batteries and gramophone records.

Today the backing is a mundane epoxy resin. Turquoise is only 5 to 6 on the scale of hardness - just harder than a pane of glass. Unfortunately, it is very porous and can be easily discoloured by perfume. When cleaning it, just wipe with a damp cloth. Never soak it or put in an ultra sonic machine.

 

And as a final comment, it seems that all cultures have had a good word
for turquoise. It is even said by the American Indians that because
turquoise is the colour of the sky and the sea it relieves depression
and creates harmony. For me, in this more personal look at a birthstone
I still have mixed emotions. I adore the frivolity that it was once
used as eyeliner - and cringe at the thought that it could have been
used as a cure for cataracts.

 

Perhaps this is the harmony!