Turquoise is Becoming More Rare

I use a lot of good quality turquoise in my handmade jewelry because I just love turquoise! I especially love good quality turquoise. Handmade turquoise jewelry is so versatile that it can go from very casual to dressy, depending on the style of the jewelry and the occasion. The bad news is the price of turquoise is on the rise, as I mentioned in an earlier blog.

I recently called one of the turquoise mining companies that I buy very good quality turquoise from. This is a well established business that has been mining and processing some of the best turquoise in the world for many, many decades. I was very surprised to learn that their turquoise prices had gone way up. In fact it's gone up as much as 80%. I asked why, and the answer surprised me. For a long time they were sending their raw turquoise to China to be processed. That means it was cut and drilled by people in China trained in the skill of gemstone cutting. Then the finished turquoise was shipped back to the company. China is developing a growing middle class, and labor isn't as cheap as it was. It is no longer profitable to send the turquoise to China, so the work is now being done in the USA. In many ways this is a good thing, in that jobs are coming back to the US. The down side is that people with skills in the US are paid more than the poor people of China were. It isn't profitable for them to cut anything but the best quality turquoise. Thus the finished product is more expensive.   Also the cost of mining has gone up, including labor, equipment, fuel. A trip to the grocery store is proof that costs of everything are rising again.

For a long time China was heavily mining very good quality turquoise. A lot of Chinese turquoise was imported to the US.  About a year ago China suddenly stopped exporting their turquoise. In fact, affluent Chinese people come to the US looking for turquoise. The Sleeping Beauty mine closed about two years ago. Turquoise has been pretty much depleted in the US. The turquoise that is left in the ground is hard to find and very rare. There are a few mines in Nevada and Arizona that produce very little turquoise, which at this point is considered rare and collectible.  Also a lot of very good quality turquoise is off the market, being held by collectors.

According to another reliable source, the value of turquoise has increased 100%, and the price of collectable, untreated turquoise as much as 200 - 1000%. It's a matter of supply and demand. So there you have it. As the saying goes, "the only thing constant is change". I consider turquoise to be a good investment, like gold and silver. It's a valuable commodity like antiques, stamp collections, rare coins, baseball cards - anything of value. So when you purchase handmade jewelry made with good quality turquoise you are buying a keepsake that you will have for a very long time. It may even go from one generation to another! It is a bit of vanishing Americana!