Why do I love Turquoise?

What do you imagine when I say turquoise? A colour? A mineral? A semi-precious stone? A healing crystal?

In fact, Turquoise, as we know it today, is all of those and more. The stone is said to have been discovered in Persia over 2000 years ago, though there is evidence in Egyptian and Aztec archaeology that the stone has been revered for many thousands of years before then.

The journey from Persia to central Europe took the stones through Turkey, and it is thought that this is how it acquired its familiar name.

Many cultures across the planet and centuries have held Turquoise in high esteem, treasured it as an important and spiritual symbol often used to bring about protection or to embody the elements of water and sky.

Turquoise is a mineral which chemically contains aluminium and copper, so can be found in places where the conditions are dry and barren, and the geology allows copper and aluminium to exist in close proximity. The largest deposits of Turquoise have been mined in Iran, American Southwest, Egypt, China and Mongolia, being exported and imported across the planet. Turquoise has even been discovered in England, in a small area of South West UK where copper mines were once more common.

Turquoise, like many of the world's great discoveries, was likely to have been found by accident when mining for copper, aluminium and gold. Often considered a worthless by product by miners it has been washed away and discarded by many.

The popularity of Turquoise and the challenging conditions required to mine it have led to many imitations being created over the centuries. Some of these are valuable in their own right, and others are cheap resin and plastic amalgates.

The name has been associated with its namesake colour based on the majority of stones presenting in blue-green hue. The HEX code for the colour is #40E0D0 which creates what most of us would recognise as a light teal. The stone in fact presents naturally in a variation on this which is dependent on the other minerals around which it is created.

Why do I love Turquoise? What’s not to love? The interesting history through place and time, the human element of that (a mix of industry and folklore) the spiritual and mystical connections it has in many cultures. This unassuming stone is both beautiful and in its variety can be rare and valuable.