Stones Used In American Indian Jewelry
An article by Lee Anderson
This article explores stones (other than turquoise) that are commonly
used in Indian jewelry: coral, sugilite, charoite, and gaspeite.
To learn more about turquoise, read Lee
Anderson’s articles.
Coral
Created by colonies of the marine coral polyp, coral is a calcium
carbonate combined with magnesium. Originally, the best red coral
came from the Mediterranean, but pollution and over-harvesting has
greatly reduced that source. Today, most top-quality intense red
coral comes from the Sea of Japan. It is sometimes referred to as
“Mora coral.” Generally, the deeper the color, the higher
the value, although this axiom must be tempered by the presence,
if any, of impurities, holes, fissures, etc. Also, the pink-colored,
delicate “angel skin” coral and creamy orange coral
have become popular; the highest grades are also expensive.
The highest grades of “ox blood” (intense red) coral
can easily be $80 per carat and higher for rarer, large pieces.
Coral should never be subjected to liquid cleaning solvents or extreme
heat. It can turn white.
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Sugilite
An alkali of iron, aluminum, manganese, lithium, and water, sugilite
ranges from a yellow-brown in Japan to a beautiful, deep purple
in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa. The African sugilite
is used in jewelry. Sugilite has been registered under the trade
names Royal Azul and Royal Lavulite. This stone ranges from an attractive
light purple with deeper purple inclusions to a gem-grade that can
best be described as solid “grape jelly.” Values range
from a few dollars per carat for the lighter shades to $80 a carat
for the stones with the deepest and purest color. Also, like coral,
larger cabachons of the highest grade are quite scarce and prices
for these are even higher.
Note that sugilite looks like the beautiful (and also purple) spiny
oyster shell Spondylous princips. A magnifying glass will reveal
“lines” in the spiny oyster shell specimen. Also, a
scratch test with a needle or sharp knife will easily be seen on
spiny oyster shell, but not on sugilite. Sugilite can also be confused
with charoite, discussed below.
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Charoite
This popular purple stone is only found near the Chara River in
eastern Siberia. It is a calcium-potassium-silicate found with deposits
of tinaksite (orange), augite (black), and feldspar (white). The
range of color is extensive. When prepared in jewelry-ready cabachons,
a deep “glittering” crystalline effect is noticeable.
This stone is quite lovely in all its manifestations but becomes
more valuable as the deeper purple intensifies. It also becomes
increasingly dominant in the cabachon. The stone was first discovered
and considered for jewelry use in 1976. It is still rather inexpensive,
ranging from $2 to $4 to as much as $20 per carat for the deeper
colors. This too will change as more jewelers begin to see its beauty.
In this regard, Indian silversmiths such as Bruce Hodgins are taking
a leading role.
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Gaspeite
This light, very soft and pleasing, green stone is a nickel carbonate
colored by iron and magnesium. It is found on the Gaspe' Peninsula
in Canada; hence, the name. Most, however, is mined as a byproduct
of nickel mines in western Australia. Gaspeite is similar in hue
to Pixie and Damale turquoise and to a recent shade of green from
the Carico Lake turquoise mine in Lander County, Nevada. Also, some
shades of varasite are quite similar to gaspeite. The stone is used
as a cabachon in jewelry and as attractive color accents in silver,
gold, and channel inlay. Its value is, at the moment, fairly uniform
at about $5 to $8 a carat. This will undoubtedly increase.
References / Recommended Readings
John Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths, University
of Oklahoma Press, 1944.
Margery Bedinger, Indian Silver, Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers,
University of New Mexico Press, 1973.
M.G. Brown, Blue Gold, The Turquoise Story, Main Street
Press, Anaheim, CA, 1975.
Larry Frank, Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, Schiffer
Publishing Ltd., Westchester, Pennsylvania, 1990.
The International Turquoise Annuals, vol. I and II, 1975
and 1976 (only two published) Impart Pub, Reno, NV. Note in vol.
I the article on pages 31–55 by D. Allen Penick, “Turquoise,
the Mineral that’s an Accident.”
Carl Rosnek and Joseph Stacy, Skystone and Silver, Prentice
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1976.
Joseph E. Poque, Ph.D, The Turquoise, A report to the
National Academy of Science, vol. XII, Second and Third Memoir,
1915. Reprinted in 1974 by Rio Grande Press, Inc., Glorieta, NM.
(This reprint includes a foreword and details on Southwestern turquoise
mines by Rex Arrowsmith and an excellent reference list. )
Stuart A. Northrop, Turquoise and Spanish Mines in New Mexico,
University of New Mexico, Press, 1975.
Stuart A. Northrop, David L. Newman, David H. Snow, Turquoise,
reprinted by General Printing and Paper Co., Topeka, KS. A reprint
from El Palacio, vol. 79, No. 1, 1973, Museum of New Mexico.
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Related Indian Jewelry Articles by Lee
and Eric Anderson
• “The
History of American Indian Jewelry”
• “The
Squash Blossom Necklace”
• “Turquoise
in Indian Jewelry”
• “How
the Quality of Turquoise Affects Its Use in Jewelry”
• “The
History of Turquoise”
• “The
Origin and Occurrence of Turquoise”
• “The
Physical Properties of Turquoise”
• “Natural,
Stabilized, Treated, Fake, and Synthetic Turquoise”
• “Turquoise
Quality”
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