Native American jewelry makers knew how to work with turquoise long before any other gemstone. Aside from its historical significance, Native American turquoise jewelry retains its luster over the decades. Certain kinds of turquoise found in Native American jewelry can increase in value over time.
Find Native American turquoise jewelry at Home & Away Gallery.
Which Native American Tribes Make Turquoise Jewelry?
Southwestern Native American tribes are makers of turquoise jewelry, tribes such as the:
- Navajo – The first tribe to combine turquoise and silver. Navajo rings and bracelets often use chunky nuggets in their necklaces and rings. Navajo turquoise jewelry typically does not attempt to hide the matrix.
- Zuni – Zuni jewelry often includes inlay or delicate patterns of turquoise stones. However, since Sleeping Beauty stones do not have a matrix, much Zuni turquoise jewelry is one solid color.
- Hopi – Hopi jewelry often includes turquoise stones set in distinct swirling silver designs.
Native American Turquoise Jewelry Styles
Native American jewelry makers can make jewelry from turquoise in the following ways:
- Overlay – Two metal sheets are layered to make a design or a stencil to set cut turquoise.
- Inlay – The process of setting small turquoise stones into jewelry.
- Channel inlay – Turquoise stones set between thin strips of silver “channels”.
- Mosaic – Turquoise stones set in a geometric pattern.
- Bezel – Turquoise stones inside of a special silver encasing.
- Stringing – Turquoise stones are shaped into beads and drilled to create beaded Native American jewelry.
- Rolled beads – Turquoise beads with rounded edge.
- Heishi beads – Disc-shaped beaded jewelry.
- Petit Point – Jewelry made of pear-shaped turquoise stones arranged in round clusters.
- Popular in Zuni jewelry
- Needle Point – A Zuni turquoise jewelry style using stones with pointed ends.
- Snake Eyes – Small round turquoise stones set in precisely patterned rows.
Popular Types of Turquoise Used in Native American Jewelry
While there are entire books written about turquoise mines, Southwestern Native American turquoise jewelry can contain:
- Blue Gem – Turquoise from Lander County, Nevada sometimes used for Zuni inlay jewelry starting in the 1930’s.
- Cerrillos – Blue, green, or blue-green turquoise from a large collection of mines south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The largest source of turquoise for Southwestern tribes and the primary source of vintage Navajo turquoise jewelry.
- Sleeping Beauty – An Arizona-based turquoise with no visible matrix once favored by Zuni.
- Kingman: a deep turquoise color, sometimes with heavy matrix and sometimes clear
How Native American Turquoise is Rated
Turquoise jewelry itself falls into the following categories:
- High Grade Natural Turquoise – Rare turquoise with such unique color, hardness and matrix properties that it can be identified as coming from a particular mine.
- Rated as AAAA, AAA, or AA.
- Very little Native American jewelry is made from high grade natural turquoise.
- Natural turquoise – The standard for high end Native American turquoise jewelry.
- Rated as AA-, A, B, or C.
- Less than 5 percent of Native American jewelry uses natural turquoise.
- Nearly all of Home & Away Gallery’s turquoise jewelry comes from natural turquoise unless stated otherwise.
- Low grade natural turquoise – Soft and pale turquoise which must be stabilized or enhanced to sculpt into Native American jewelry.
- Rated as C, D, or chalk turquoise (the absolute lowest grade).
- Stabilized turquoise – Microscopic gaps in the turquoise have been filled with an epoxy resin to harden the turquoise enough to then cut and polish.
- Enhanced turquoise – Infuses turquoise with vaporized quartz to mimic the hardening process that naturally occurs between the two gemstones in caves.
- Rated as C, D, or chalk turquoise (the absolute lowest grade).