karavanserai, I agree, a new thread on turquoise is warranted. As well as some of these other similar looking gemstones. This may be a very dumb question but is Turquoise only indigenous to the US? (I know I could google the question but its not the same.)

As far as the junk they sell overseas yes, it is junk, such as "howlite" imo, but some people just like to buy turquoise colored stones and cant afford or wouldnt know the difference between the real thing. I probably used to be one of them!