Native American turquoise rings have long been prized for their craftsmanship and beauty. Many Native American turquoise rings are unique handmade works of art which showcase a variety of cuts and colors of turquoise stones mined throughout the United States.
Many tribes believed that turquoise is a stone of the sky, and that affords wearers protection, a long life, and good health. Others believed turquoise was a stone of the water formed from the Creators tears. Turquoise is said to hold many mystical and beneficial qualities and is prized by the Native American peoples.
About Native American Turquoise Rings
Native American turquoise rings are one of the more popular types of Native American jewelry pieces and are widely distributed both in the US and throughout the world. Many admirers of Native American turquoise rings tend to wear more than one Native American turquoise ring at a time and often on a semi-permanent basis.
Native American turquoise rings are almost always silver, most are inexpensively made and sold. Some Native American turquoise rings are elaborate and feature multiple sizes settings or matched stones.
American Mined Turquoise
Native American turquoise rings will display various types of American mined turquoise. A very popular source of turquoise for Native American Turquoise rings is from the Sleeping beauty mine in Arizona. Sleeping Beauty is easily cut and is used for smaller or more precisely cut settings in Native American turquoise rings.
Many older Native American turquoise rings are set with Morenci Turquoise from southeastern Arizona, because Morenci was the first type commercially used in America. In Native American turquoise rings of this type feature flecks of iron pyrite are often featured in the stone. A very popular variety of turquoise is from the Indian Mountain Mine, and Native American turquoise rings and other pieces were featured on the cover of several magazines in the 1970’s.
Rare American Turquoise
Damele Turquoise from central Nevada is a highly sought after and a very rare, very hard yellow-green gemstone which has been set in several very finely crafted Native American turquoise rings. Native American turquoise rings featuring Tyrone turquoise are highly prized because the Silver City, New Mexico Tyrone mine stopped mining for turquoise in the 1980’s. Over the 2000+ years that Native Americans have been harvesting and using the stone, it has been mined from many places in the Southwestern region of the United states. Native American turquoise rings can feature either beaten and shaped silver or smelted and molded silver.