Welcome, December, and your birthstone, the Turquoise.
The sublime blue-green stone has been mined and used decoratively for thousands of years although the modern(ish) name “Turquoise” dates-back only to the 1600’s—from the French word “Turques” (after the “Turks” who first brought the stone to Europe from Persia). Some of the oldest turquoise mining occurred in Persia where the domes of palaces were clad in the beautiful mineral symbolizing “Heaven on Earth.” Turquoise was also found in the Southwest Sinai Peninsula (c. 3,000 BC) where the Egyptians mined and used it—quite famously on the golden mask of King Tutankhamen. In the New World, turquoise has been mined (and used) by the Aztecs in Mexico and Indigenous Americans in the Southwest. Turquoise was considered holy by many cultures; amulets, worn around the neck, were believed to ward-off and prevent the wearer’s unnatural death.
Turquoise is formed underground in "seams," from ancient deposits of copper sulfides—which account for the blue color. Turquoise is mostly mined in small scale operations, by-hand, although sometimes it is collected as a by-product of large scale industrial copper mining. The Ancient Egyptians, thousands of years ago, were the first to create imitation turquoise. Even today, artisans simulate real turquoise with various materials: glass, enamel, or copper sulfides.
The Middle Eastern tooled-brass cloisonné trinket box, shown above, is decorated with inset glass turquoise "beads," not the stone itself. The cover also is ringed with glass red coral disks. The artful form and combination of colors—aged brass, turquoise and red—create an exotic and handsome box, attractive and useful. Click on the photo above to learn more about this box.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248