Featured Turquoise or dyed howlite?

Hi.
I was trying to figure out the maker’s mark on another thread and it was brought to my attention these might be dyed howlite. They were sold to me as turquoise and I’d like a few opinions. I tried a swab test on this crater with nail polish remover and didn’t get color transfer What else can I do to test? What are your thoughts? They are about 1/2” wide or a tad more. The clasp is a big 14k gold marked Italy and something I can’t quite make out. Not worried about the maker so much anymore. The flaw shown is the only real pit or crevice. The rest are very smooth. The maker’s mark kind of looks like CV or CCV

Thank you for the help. I posted better pics on this thread @Any Jewelry

 

Someone mentioned they thought it was a diamond ring mark that was never figured out. I’m just posting in case anyone else was wondering what it looked like

thank you

 

I don't see anybody putting a 14k clasp on howlite. My hunch is they're the real deal, just not American turquoise.

 

Thanks for that, gauntlett.
Looking at it now I think it is probably stabilised chalk turquoise.
Chalk turquoise is a lower grade turquoise without copper, which means it is white. It isn't chalk.
Chalk turquoise is dyed a turquoise colour and treated with resin to make it stronger. The resin is the reason why your nail polish remover test didn't work.
Most turquoise is stabilised btw, which means acetone won't show anything.
Also, most nail polish remover nowadays doesn't contain acetone, so it won't work anyway. You can buy pure acetone though.

 

Some info on chalk turquoise:

https://www.firemountaingems.com/resources/ask-the-experts/9917

https://tskies.com/blogs/news/what-is-turquoise-chalk

 

I wondered. Knew it wasn't howlite, not with a gold clasp. The color didn't look right for "real" stones though, and I've never seen natural beads that big. Stabilized turquoise fits.

 

Yes, it is a little off. Only just, but enough to make you wonder.

 

I ended up returning it. There was the ding and I also found one of the larger beads had a chunk broken off and glued back terribly.
Thank you all for the help!

 

The seller should have mentioned that.

 

Yeah, they “overlooked” that. Oh well

 

this is the broken bead split open. What say ye??? This has to be that reconstituted and dyed stuff, right? @Any Jewelry @evelyb30

 

Reconstituted sounds about right. That's not natural stone.

 

That’s what I’m thinking. That devalues the necklace a lot They were claiming it was thousands

 

they lie.............!

 

I don't know how bad the break was when they sold it, had it already broken in two? But anyway, they probably knew it was damaged, and they should have known that it was dyed 'something', so their claim was a downright lie.

 

It may have been sold to them as worth thousands. It's worth the gold weight of the clasp plus the value of the undamaged beads. Jewelers always soak you for gold or sterling clasps, 100x metal weight isn't unheard-of, so buying a piece like this for the clasp can be worth it at the right price. Otherwise not so much.

 

I recently acquired a large lot of faux turquoise jewelry, though there are pieces in the mix that look like they could be real, or maybe "stabilized" turquoise. Did the acetone thing and got excited, until I learned about Howlite. The rabbit hole I went down to research and learn as much as possible held surprises. Like that many Native American jewelers didn't always use real turquoise, because it was the color turquoise that they had a reverence for. The other surprise was learning how few places in the world real turquoise is found, and that the real stuff is considered rare. Amazing when you see how many listings there are for turquoise pieces.

I believe there lots of sellers who don't do their research and/or just assume, and hapless buyers who don't think to ask about authenticity. Glad you got your money back.

 

"The most common places known for good quality turquoise are Iran (Persia), Egypt, Northwest China, Mexico and the southwestern part of the United States. Although there can be mines found in many states, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada are the most common places where you will find them.

I would not consider turquoise as rare , and only some of it would be considered gem quality, with a much higher value than normal.

As for the SW 1st Nations.... they respect their turquoise , but over the years when it became harder to get , as mines closed & imports became available , they adapted and used what they could get....

When good quality jet became hard to get, they used black vinyl records for their black inlay too..

 

Wow

 

Turquoise crystals are a bit rare.