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SUMMARY
An old Apache legend says if you dig into the soft, sweet-smelling earth at the end of a rainbow, you'll find turquoise. I love that legend. Like many people, I'll take turquoise over gold any place I find it. And Fire Mountain Gem's clear, intense medium blue turquoise from Arizona's Sleeping Beauty Mine is the most highly prized turquoise you'll find anywhere. Or choose turquoise from the Hubei mines, in mainland China, a beautiful and less expensive alternative. Like most turquoise, it's veined and varies in color. (Copper infusions create blue shades; iron makes it green. The veins are limonite, sandstone or jasper.) Turquoise from both places is polished to a warm luster, but not artificially treated in any way. If turquoise is particularly soft and porous, it can, also, be permeated with resin to stabilize it (for carving, etc.), making it more resistant to light, perspiration, cosmetics, etc. Regardless of the form you choose, beloved turquoise is exquisite.
For a traditionally southwest look, combine turquoise with coral, lapis lazuli and/or black onyx. But it's a versatile stone, at home other places. It's gorgeous with garnet and sterling silver (see p. 76 in the 2000-2001 FMG catalog) or interspersed with celestial crystal (p. 78.) Regardless of how and where you include it, you can stop looking for that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. With turquoise, you've already got it.
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| GEMOLOGICAL PROPERTIES: |
| Mineral Information |
Copper containing basic aluminum phosphate |
| Chemical Composition |
CuAl6(I(OH)2/PO4)4.4H2O |
| Color |
Sky blue, blue-green, green |
| Hardness |
5-6 |
| Specific Gravity |
2.60-2.80 |
| Refractive Index |
1.61-1.65 |
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