October 21st, 2025

This is the jewelry I chose to wear to the museum last week, a mismatched set of turquoise pieces.  Well I suppose they do match in that they are all bracelets and they are all turquoise. But I mean it's not an intentional match. They weren't purchased together as a set.  The inlay piece I inherited from my Grandmother, the beaded one my friend Marsha made for me and the other one was a gift from Joy.

They went perfectly with the dress I selected for the day, a turquoise and brown dress.  It's an unusual colour combination which is probably what initially drew me to it. But I also liked the easy care fabric - I could literally wad it into a ball and throw it in a corner overnight and it still be able to just shake out and look great in the morning (perfect for travel) and it's very comfortable to boot.  As I recall, it was also on the clearance rack and usually that price counters any objection I might have to something as piddly as an unflattering colour.  See for yourself:

I'm not suggesting that the colour turquoise, in and of itself, is unflattering. No!  Not at all. In fact, I actually love the colour.  But it looks not so good on me.  There is something about my skin tone that when adorned with turquoise makes me appear to be jaundiced.  Not  a look anyone has ever aspired to.  But I counter that sickly yellow look, when wearing this dress, by wearing a cream coloured cardigan over it.  Trust me on this, it looks very nice and when I'm at the museum I always absolutely make an effort to present well.

Side Note: Joy, on the other hand, looks fabulous in turquoise. It's kind of HER colour and she is welcome to it.  With the exception of this dress. The dress is mine.

Anyway, while I was getting dressed and putting on my earrings (also turquoise) and bracelets, the random thought crossed my mind that all of my turquoise jewelry was set in silver.  And then, I realized that 99% of all turquoise jewelry I ever saw anywhere was also set in silver.  That got me wondering. Is there a reason?

My guess was, tradition but I wanted to be sure so I looked it up. And yuppers that is certainly one of the primary reasons.  Native Americans artists have been making amazing and beautiful jewelry, art, belt buckles and more from Turquoise set in silver for a Very Long Time.  But did you know that they aren't the only ones who worked with turquoise?

For more than 10,000 - that's ten thousand! - years turquoise jewelry and other ritual pieces have been created in such far away places as China and Egypt as well as the Native Americans of our Southwest.  Holy Cats!  I did not know that!  Interesting. I also did not know that, at least among the Zuni Indians, blue turquoise was considered male and green turquoise, female.  Not sure how I feel about that but I suppose, not my culture, not my call.

Interestingly, at least to me, other countries that worked with turquoise, often used gold. So in those cultures, the turquoise and silver combo was Not the tradition. They used gold or bronze or whatever metals were close at hand or perhaps other metals were their own traditional preference. So many varieties, so many options, so many stunning pieces of art!  And make no mistake about it, jewelry Is art.  Wearable art but still art.

On the other hand,   Native American, Mexican and Spanish artists nearly always used silver with turquoise in their amazing creations. Most likely because it was easily sourced.  Makes sense.   There are some folks who believe silver to be the "correct" choice in combination with turquoise due to the "cool tones" of the stone against the equally "cool tones" of the metal.  And I do not disagree that silver and turquoise look great together.

But sometimes I don't want things that go together. Sometimes I prefer things that contrast.  And a warmer metal, such a gold, would definitely contrast with turquoise.   Beautifully I suspect.  And in fact, I looked for some examples of turquoise jewelry set in gold and I find it equally lovely. Here's a few examples:

Completely different but absolutely just as beautiful as the turquoise set in silver, at least in my estimation.  Not traditional by a long shot, but pretty pretty pretty, nonetheless.

So there we are.  I asked a question and I answered it.  Very efficient.  And now I know something I didn't know before!  

How about you?  Do you have a preference?  Turquoise with silver or turquoise with gold?