Hi, what is this Mexican Turquoise Bracelet made of? Silver or not?

Hi, I purchased a mexican turquoise and silver bracelet. The hinges ARE NOT silver, as they stick to a magnet...the rest does not. The bracelet is punch marked Mexico but I cannot tell if it says Mexico sterling or not on it. Could this be alpaca silver instead? I cannot read the mark. Thanks.

 

Colour looks wrong for silver, so I suspect an alloy of some kind. Pity I can't smell it.

 

Thanks so much. This is what I was thinking too. The color doesn't have that richness.

 

Can you make picture 1 clearer? It resembles to a Spratling mark, howver the style does not match. It is a nice bracelet though

 

Probably alpaca, actually I have had Mexican bracelets marked silver that were alpaca. So even if I get one marked silver I always test it.

Your stones look like glass to me, not turquoise. You will need to have both metal and stones tested to be sure.

 

the mark looks mexican ...but the bracelet...doesn't....at least to me!

 

México. 1970s.

Debora

 

The bracelet just looks like a cheap knockoff item sold at a souvenir stand. metal and the "stones" look completely off from the real deal.

 

It's alpaca with glass "stones". Odds are it's older though; that sort of art glass was used extensively in the 50s and early 60s to resemble turquoise. They went to plastic soon after and then quit using it. I don't think this was ever meant to be a fake, since they used art glass instead of stone.

 

the way the cut outs run over the design ..i see no quality here....
i would have thought the Mexicans were better than this...

 

Alpaca it is, thank you all very much for your time.