Re:Turquoise.
Re: Help please, turquoise or no turquoise, coloured or real -- karavanserai Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Beadman Post Reply
12/08/2023, 11:26:08

Hello Martine,

I understand and empathize with your consternation.

There is so much phony "turquoise" circulating, it is difficult to trust anything nowadays. It's even possible that when confronted with real turquoise, one might be afraid it's also fake.

I also think that it is a dicey thing to try to authenticate turquoise from photos. Only if I am confident a piece can be recognized as a fake, would I say so. Otherwise, I can only say 'it looks OK and is probably real turquoise'--which is what I would say to you about all three pieces. In all instances, I have seen Chinese turquoise that is comparable to those you show.

This past year I have made a number of purchases of turquoise beads. In part because I am trying to find something to go with a Méxican nugget I have, that I'm using as a pendant I view all the offerings very carefully. I've had reasonable success. Only one strand has turned out to be sone semi-liquid concoction that looks OK at eye-level, but (enlarged via an eye-piece) does not hold up.

In these instances, I show photos to Danny Lopaki, to know what his response may be. Danny has been helpful in verifying my doubts.

Although I am not seeking fake turquoise (since I already have a big bag of this stuff), I nevertheless don't entirely resent having wasted the money. It just goes into the fake turquoise pile. And sooner or later I'll do a pictorial for my Facebook Group.

Regarding the chalk turquoise, this also looks OK. I couldn't say whether it comes from that mine or not. But what you have looks very much like a lot of chalk turquoise I've seen.

Be of good cheer! Happy Holidays. Jamey



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