3.Turquoise History Development

Turquoise is an age-old gem with thousands of brilliant history. It is a valuable mineral and is possibly the most valuable, non-transparent mineral in the jewelry trade. Turquoise is the birthstone of December & anniversary gemstone for the 11th year of marriage Turquoise is a semi-precious stone, valued in many countries throughout history.

Its history also includes beautiful ornamental creations by Native Americans and Persians. Turquoise, the robin egg blue gemstone worn by Pharaohs and Aztec Kings, is probably one of the oldest gemstones known. Yet, only it prized blue color, a color so distinctive that its name is used to describe any color that resembles it, results in its being used as a gemstone. Since about 200 B.C. turquoise has been extensively used by American Indians of Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico have long fashioned turquoise into ornamental jewelry, inlays and carvings.

The Pueblo believe turquoise is a piece of the sky which has fallen to earth; the people often placed turquoise in the floors of their dwellings to bring good fortune; they think it combines the spirits of the sea and sky to helped warriors and hunters aim accurately. The Zuni believe that turquoise protects them from demons, while the Aztecs reserved turquoise for the gods and was not to be worn by mere mortals. Montezuma's treasure, now displayed in the British Museum in London, includes a carved serpent covered by a mosaic of turquoise.

The Native American Jewelry or "Indian style" jewelry with turquoise mounted in or with silver is relatively new some believe this style of Jewelry was unknown prior to about 1880, when a white trader persuaded a Navajo craftsman to make turquoise and silver jewelry using coin silver. Prior to this time, the Native Americans had made solid turquoise beads, carvings, and inlaid mosaics. Recently, turquoise has found wide acceptance among people of all walks of life and from many different ethnic groups.

It was discovered by the ancient Egyptians around 3000 BC and was used widely in their finest jewelry and ornaments often combined with Lapis Lazuli and Carnelian as in the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb. The turquoise was carved into scarab and representations of the various gods and worn by the priests for ceremonial purposes. The ceramic Faience was developed by the Egyptians as an imitation for Turquoise and Lapis Lazuli.

Old European traditions associate Turquoise with horses, and hold that the stone will protect horses from all sorts of ills. In particular, it was said to prevent them from drinking overly cold water while overheated and foundering. Turquoise was said to enable its wearer to resist evil and maintain virtue. It was credited with helping achieve a state of higher consciousness and resistance to weakness. It was also thought to protect its wearer from falling, particularly from towers and horses.

Turquoise is one of the world's earliest-used gem materials, Ranked with the jades of the Orient lapis in the Near East. In Asia, turquoise was considered protection against the evil eye. In China Turquoise symbolizes as success and good luck. In Sitsang people adore turquoise very much and you can see everyone there adorn themselves with turquoise. Turquoise covers a kind of mysterious color. Tibetans revere the turquoise and believe it represents good fortune, good health, and that it provides powerful protection against the evil eye. Turquoise is used in Tibetan healing ceremonies, where a turquoise bead is thought to hold the shadow soul and draw out illness from the body. Buddhists associate turquoise with knowledge of the future. Many Tibetans still wear necklaces with turquoise beads which are hundreds of years old, and turquoise often adorns ceremonial objects. In both Tibet and Nepal, turquoise is highly esteemed and can also serve as currency. The largest turquoise deposits are in the northwest Hubei province of China .Its basic color is green with net vein and the surface is very smooth as while tough structure. From Qing Dynasty, a number of turquoise mines operated in that area, several or more mines in each of the counties. The famous mines is YunGaiSi in Yun county and LaBa Mountain in ZhuShan county.

Mass-market mining of turquoise as a gemstone or by-product has had large impacts. Though it has been mined for thousands of years, unfortunately this resource is in shorter supply as the demand for it has increased. Because turquoise is a valuable and nonrenewable ore resource, the demand for this gemstone will only increase with restricted production. For example, in China and USA, turquoise is still the most important gemstone being produced. However, as USA resources have become exhausted, the deposits are producing very little. At present, China has the largest turquoise deposits which hold turquoise resource 80% in the world. So the world government has been restricted the turquoise mine. Parts of government have been forbid to mine.