[Jewelry making - Article 00063] - Re: [Orchid] Stabilized Vs. natural turquoise?

[Katherine Palochak]

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>        How do prices compare w/ Stabilized turquoise? Is Natural
>     turquoise cheaper or more expensive on average than Stabilized
>     stuff?  BTW...isn't turquoise fairly light material? Wouldn't
>     stabilized stuff actually be heavier than natural material? 

    Stabilized means anything that has been used to treat the rough
    material. The rough can run from just needing a little fracture
    sealing with Opti-Con to prevent it from pulling at the matrix when
    polishing, to treating a chalky material with resins under pressure
    so that you wind up with more plastic than rock. There is also
    waxing and oiling used for treatments. Good natural turquoise has a
    Mohs hardness of 7-7.5, or comparable to a corundum, and will
    scratch glass easily. Some good quallity natural turquoise will have
    a Mohs of 6.5. The natural change of color is called patina aging,
    and in natural turquoise is very attractive and highly sought after,
    including people buying "old pawn" to use the stones. The finest
    natural material with exquisite spiderwebbing will go for $45 per
    carat, finished. To check your material for stabilization, heat up a
    needle to cherry red and stick it on several places, especially
    where there is matrix. If you smell acrid plastic or a resinous
    smell, then it is treated. Natural turquoise smells like hot rock.
    Natural turquoise is more expensive than stabilized in comparable
    color and clarity.

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