Diné Silver and Beautiful Blue Turquoise Ring [SOLD]

This ring, handmade by a Diné of the Navajo Nation jeweler, has a silver band that branches to three prongs at the tops where they meet a silver platform on which rests a large oval turquoise gemstone.  The turquoise gemstone is a beautiful blue with a delightful display of copper matrix and is mounted in a silver bezel.  Each side of the ring has traditional stamped designs on the three prongs. The ring is not stamped with the name of the maker.

Turquoise is a significant gemstone to the Navajo and Pueblo people.  There was a time when turquoise was considered waste material by miners who were mining for copper.  They piled the turquoise waste outside, and the Navajo would get it for their purposes.  

Turquoise is an ancient gemstone, formed around 30 million years ago as water moved through rock, leaving behind deposits of aluminum, copper, and zinc.  Turquoise gets its color directly from the ground where it forms, depending on the metal content present.  In North America, the earliest evidence of turquoise mining and use is credited to the Anasazi and Hohokam peoples. These ancestors of the Pueblo nations mined the famous Burro and Cerrillos Mountains of modern-day New Mexico and the Kingman and Morenci mines of Arizona.  Archeological sites reveal turquoise necklaces and other jewelry in the American Southwest and point to the history of relevance with its Native Peoples.  For all of recorded history in the Southwest, turquoise has been considered sacred, being used in ceremony and worn to stand out as Native when among other peoples.

The turquoise color is also associated with the Spanish-speaking people of New Mexico.  It is traditional to paint one’s doors a turquoise color to ward off witches.  There are many houses in Santa Fe with turquoise color doors.

Residents of the great State of New Mexico not only wear turquoise as jewelry, but they also live behind turquoise doors.  It is highly recommended that you consider wearing that beautiful blue or green gemstone.  Who knows what powers it contains?  Take a moment to view the video regarding turquoise that is presented below.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Diné Silver and Beautiful Blue Turquoise Ring is from a client in Colorado

Recommended Reading: Turquoise (Updated): The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone by Joe Dan Lowry

Relative Links: Jewelry Ring, Navajo Nation, Southwest Indian Jewelry

Real Simple: How to Measure Your Ring Size at Home  (This will take you to another website)