A Turquoise Dream

As I mentioned elsewhere, the first part of 2025 has been all about the bling and the bang; gold, guns, and coins.

Without much else to show for myself, I will go through some of the turquoise, and other jewelry that I’ve shot, lately. I might also include a few pieces that I have recently featured.

Let’s start with this ring. Made by Tia Long, this is known as “Dahlia” turquoise. From what I gather, turquoise, does not come in such colors, and there are treatments that change the colors of some turquoise into red(ish) colors. It’s an interesting effect, and I think that it looks very nice, but I think that I prefer naturally colored turquoise, myself.

This ring ring does have turquoise in the outside ring, but the large, center stone is, “White Buffalo” turquoise. “White Buffalo Turquoise”, is a bit of a misnomer, as the stone is actually dolomite and not turquoise.

Oddly enough, this stone is found in only one place, the Dry Creek Mine, in Tonopah, Nevada. The stone was found by turquoise hunters, looking for turquoise, but they found this cool stone instead. Even more interestingly, they found this stone in 1993, which is almost yesterday, as geological discoveries go. If you have never been to Tonopah, Nevada, it’s 30 miles past the end of civilization, out in the middle of No-Damned-Place, Nevada.

The name, White Buffalo Turquoise, is, to me, a marketing gimmick. The white buffalo, is a legend among the Lakota, and this is Navajo turquoise jewelry, so there is a bit of stylistic legerdemain going on.

It looks like turquoise, with its matrix of incursions, and if you look online, there are already a number of websites claiming that this stone will align your chakras. It sounds like something Annie might give to Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, to get him to pitch better.

Having said all that, don’t think that I dislike the ring, I think it’s a beautiful mix.

This heart-shaped ring is made from Spiny Oyster. Technically, it is to a stone, but it is pretty. Technically, the Spiny Oyster, is not an oyster, it’s a type of scallop. I like scallops, though I have never had a spiny oyster, I do like the shells. Spiny Oyster shells come in different color, depending upon the diet and other environmental factors, purple, is the rarest color.

Another non-stone that I like in jewelry is, coral. Typically, red coral is found in jewelry from the southwest, this cuff was made by a Navajo silversmith named, Wilbur Wauneka. This is the first time that I have seen Wilbur’s work, which is surprising because he is fairly well known and has a good-sized catalogue. What I enjoy about this piece is, the repetitive symmetry; the piece seems to go on forever.

Turquoise, is most often found in relation to areas where copper can be found in large enough concentrations to mine. There are mines all over the southwest, with the greatest concentration being in Nevada. Each mine has a characteristic in the turquoise that can be used to identify the stone. Folks who are well-versed in the art can look at a piece of turquoise and tell you which mine the stone came from, perhaps even which part of the mine. I cannot (yet) tell the difference.

This necklace, came to us as, “Sonoran” turquoise. I cannot be certain, but it is a beautiful stone.

Finally, I will leave you with this cuff. I have posted this piece before, and I am going to do so (shamelessly) again. I do so, because I hope that someone might be able to identify the type of turquoise in this bracelet. Beautiful stone, beautiful piece, unfortunately, it was unsigned, so I cannot provide attribution.