December - Turquoise

turquoise watercolor by Michelle Constantinescu

Here we all are, almost made it thru 2018 as we stride into the last month of the year. December is so spoiled it has 3, count ‘em, THREE birthstones! Who said it could be that greedy? I guess a lot of things come in threes, so here goes. December is unique in that it has three different birthstones: Zircon, Tanzanite, and Turquoise. We do have limited applications with Tanzanite, but this blog will focus on Turquoise as we utilize it primarily from December’s offerings.

Turquoise is the rare opaque birthstone, with a beautiful blue-green color. It’s mineral composition is made up of copper, aluminum and phosphate. One of the oldest known gems to be mined turquoise has since become woefully undervalued due to cheap synthetics as happens with most opaque gemstones. Turquoise has been mined all over the world thru time by the ancient Greeks, Aztecs, and Persians.

The US is now the leading producer of turquoise, with many southwestern states like Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona producing the most given it’s popularity in Native American pieces.

Turquoise is one of the oldest known protection stones. It carries great wisdom of basic truth within it. Taking on the qualities of the wearer, turquoise is a very personal stone growing in tandem with the wearer. It increases empathy and the ability to think positively reintroducing the brighter side of life if it had been lost to negativity.

Check out all our turquoise and December pieces here