There are many different shades of turquoise, but it’s almost certain that you have on particular hue of turquoise that’s your very favorite.  Maybe you like a clearer, robin’s-egg shade, or a darker green, or even the turquoise that is -interestingly enough - called “spider web,” as it is comprised of dark matrix markings (matrix being the rock in which turquoise forms). 

For thousands of years, turquoise has captured the imagination of people who have, since then, been styling and perfecting different ways in which the stone can be worn.  References go back as far as five millennia BC, being found on the mummified arms of Egyptian rulers from its First Dynasty, and the Aztecs of a similar era.  Scholars believe that the priest Aaron was adorned with turquoise - though it was not mentioned specifically in the bible, and Aristotle, Pliny and other great names made reference to stones that could only have been turquoise.  Mentions of turquoise popped up here and there in writings from the 4th and 5th centuries, all the way until Marco Polo took great efforts to write about it. 

Worldwide, turquoise is considered to be a stone of good fortune, long life, and fine healing properties.  Therefore, cultures as diverse as the ancient Egyptians, the ancient Persians, Indians, Tibetans, Mongolians, Chinese, Japanese, North and South Americans, and later (during the Renaissance) Europeans, have all had an enormous amount of time to include their own styles and fashions in the wearing of turquoise.

Among the most popular ways of wearing turquoise has always been in the form of a bracelet.  Bracelets can range from being quite delicate, to big and chunky. They can be as smooth as glass, or richly carved and engraved.  The variety of different way that this stone can be manipulated for a fashionable piece have become practically endless, due to the many cultures, traditions, and centuries that it has had, to make it one of the most unique and long lasting forms of jewelry in history.

by Amanda