Featured 9ct Turquoise necklace

Today’s charity shop find.
I feel like a little kid hoping the teachers will approve
Am I right in thinking turquoise? Some is green and some blue, the stones are really beautiful, I’ve not seen it look like this before.
9ct gold clasp and chain. The clasp has a wide diameter spring part not the usual skinny ones.
Looks old to me, I’d love to know how old and more about the turquoise please.
The biggest stone in the centre has a chip across the top corner that may need some attention but otherwise all pretty good.
Thanks for looking

 

Very Nice find and very unique!....I love Turquoise too....I have a signed Navajo bracelet that I found via a pawn shop...it was a great buy and I wear it often.....you need to get it appraised...so they can tell you just what type of Turquoise it is...they come from different mines etc.....and some can be quite valuable......and I just wanted to add...if you get it appraised, it might be wise to be present....and they dont take it away behind closed doors or ask to keep it over night etc...there are stories of people who had their gems, stones switched out....stolen.....then replaced with something of less value thinking that the owner wouldn't notice

 

WOW - great find!

 

Look like Persian turquoise.

 

I was thinking USA turquoise, and that's been around a while. Some turquoise starts out green and some turns that way with age or exposure. With a clasp as old as that one I'd say sheer age.

 

Love this piece and IMO it’s not American turquoise. I’d guess China or Tibet. Yo @Any Jewelry! What do you think?

 

The only way to know where turquoise came from is to be at the mine when it's brought to the surface and buy there.

 

Phew, I’m so glad I didn’t buy another ‘I thought it was but it wasn’t’!
I was quite excited when I saw it but you all know how tight I am when it comes to putting my hand in my pocket so I really pushed the boat out here as this was £19.99, well out of my usual price range of under a fiver

How old @evelyb30?

I tried not to do that in the shop!

I don’t think we have any gem experts around here. I’ll have to investigate. Most just want your scrap gold

Thankyou

Thanks Holly,that’s very helpful.Off to research

Like a good cheese!

I’m in the UK and that’s a UK 9ct stamp, we don’t see a lot of USA made stuff over here apart from some costume that travels. I’m off to research where different types of turquoise come from! Shame I’ve got to work all day

 

I see what you mean @Hollyblue , several similar pieces to these examples.

 

Wow, K!!! Good shot!
This spring ring is old, circa 1910-1920s, can't find now the reference...
But, here is a useful link for dating jewellery from findings
https://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/articles/reference-information/jewelry-findings/

 

Here are some examples from different US mines...



Also, check out this site:
https://waddellgallery.com/pages/turquoise-materials

 

It is gorgeous, K, you lucky girl!!!
That 'random', natural look of the stones is something that was popular with Arts & Crafts jewellery makers. It looks like it dates from the early years of the 20th century, imo.

As for the country the turquoise could have come from, there is no 100% certainty. Turquoise is found on all continents, but you can rule out some countries if you look at the origin of the necklace and the period it was made in.

It is an antique English necklace, which makes US, Brazilian, etc turquoise highly unlikely.
As KSW already pointed out, we hardly see any US made jewellery in Europe. Most US turquoise (NA) jewellery is brought over by Europeans who have visited the US.
The English didn't have to buy their turquoise from across the Atlantic, because there were established, ancient trade routes for both European and Persian turquoise. Some 'Persian' turquoise came from Afghanistan, btw.

Besides, there were significantly fewer US turquoise mines in the early years of the 20th century than there were in say, 1960. In fact, at the time this was made, the US still had to import a lot of Persian turquoise, even for SW NA jewellery.

European or Persian origin are the most likely options for this necklace. I think the newly discovered turquoise in Australia wasn't mined in commercial quantities yet, but I am not sure.
We can't rule out the possibility that this is English turquoise, from Cornwall for instance. Cornish turquoise was already mined in the 19th century.
But at the time most turquoise used in Northwestern Europe came from Persia.
Bohemian, Romanian and Bulgarian turquoise were used mostly in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Turquoise from countries like Russia, Germany and Italy was mostly used locally.

So Persia and England would be on my shortlist. Most English turquoise that I have seen is more pale greenish than this, but I don't know enough about it to rule it out completely. I am leaning towards Persian though.

As an aside, turquoise from Iran (Persia) and China comes in a large range of shades and colours, just like US turquoise. In fact, it is often difficult to tell US and Chinese turquoise apart.
The colour/shade diversity of Persian turquoise is said to be the greatest in the world, although it is most famous for the coveted 'Persian blue'.

And a general rule: If an item isn't US made, the likelihood of it being US turquoise is virtually non-existent.

 

Given it's British, Persia or maybe Afghan. We really didn't import American turquoise back then. Or even now. As aj says, ancient trade routes. I think it's too included to be Cornish.

 

Overall I agree with that statement but my gut feeling after a lifetime collecting turquoise from the US with inherited antique pieces from Tibet and preCommunist China is that this turquoise did not originate in the US but I wasn’t there either lol.

Ignore-I just read all the indepth replies-agree not American.

 

Forgot to add, an appraiser won't be able to tell you which mine the turquoise came from. An Iranian gemologist or geologist might be able to.
The most famous mines are in Nishapur, northeastern Iran.

 

Found some info on Iranian mines:
https://www.durangosilver.com/persianturquoisemines.htm

Interestingly, they mention men's jewellery, not women's. In Indonesia turquoise is considered a man's stone, it could be the same in the Middle East.
It was once thought to make a man more attractive, but a woman too attractive, which would lead to loose morals in women. Needless to say, many modern Indonesian women think it nonsense.

 

Info on the Nishapur mines:
https://www.wondermondo.com/persian-turquoise-mines-near-nishapur/

 

You are beyond a fount of knowledge and I don’t think any of us can ever thank you enough for your willingness to share!