Welcome to Fig Rocks and Esthetics On Line Shop

Fig is a mother/daughter team offering one of a kind gifts from God. We specialize in bridal and wedding jewelry. We offer unique handcrafted wire jewelry pieces made from semiprecious stones, swarovski crystals, fresh water pearls, coral, and .999 fine silver. All jewelry is locally made by our in-house jewelry designer. We specialize in southwest collectors turquoise from old stock so check out our turquoise jewelry. We carry rocks and mineral specimens from Africa. We also carry hand carved rock sculptures by local artist Charlie Donald. You can also relax in our Day Spa with complete spa services which feature Eminence 100% Certified Organic Skin Care.

Specializing in Southwest Collectors Turquoise

TURQUOISE JEWELRY

Turquoise is a robin’s egg blue gemstone that is probably one of the oldest gemstones known. Its prized blue color is so distinctive that its name is used to describe any color that resembles it. Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. Chemically, turquoise is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminum and is formed by the percolation of meteoric or groundwater through aluminous rock in the presence of copper.

Turquoise is most often found in arid, semiarid or desert places such as Iran, Tibet, China, Australia, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and in Southwest U.S. Blue turquoise forms when there is copper present which is the case with most Arizona turquoise. Green turquoise forms where iron is present, the case with most Nevada turquoise. Matrix is the host rock or the mother rock that can be made from several different elements such as pyrite, chert (an extremely dense type of quartz), quartz, cuperite (a copper oxide mineral with as much as 88% copper), and manganese oxide. Some turquoise such as spider web turquoise is made up of small nuggets naturally cemented together with rock or matrix, and when cut and polished, the stone resembles a spider web. Turquoise has been used extensively by both Southwestern U.S. Native Americans and by many of the Indian tribes in Mexico. Before 1880, the Native Americans had made solid turquoise beads, carvings, and inlaid mosaics. The Native American Jewelry or “Indian style” jewelry with turquoise mounted in or with silver is relatively new.

In the 1880’s and early 1900’s, miners discovered significant deposits of high-quality turquoise in the western and southwestern United States that was just as fine as those of the finest Persian turquoise found in Persia, which for thousands of years, was the finest intense blue turquoise in the world. Today, the majority of the world’s finest-quality turquoise comes from the United State. The U.S. is now the largest producer of turquoise. Turquoise and sterling silver metal is shaped into jewelry pieces by Native American Indian artists.

Turquoise jewelry has been largely accepted in recent years and has resulted in higher price, therefore, because of the higher price of turquoise and the increase in demand, an industry emerged with the manufacture of synthetic and simulated turquoise. Its creation, with the use of earthy or highly porous types of turquoise, is pressure-impregnated with hot acrylic resins that improves the color, hardness, and durability of the inexpensive porous, poorly colored or nearly colorless materials to make them suitable for jewelry use. 

The mining or recovery of turquoise from the earth is done by careful extraction using hand methods.

In California, the production of turquoise from deposits can be traced back to pre-Columbian Native Americans that found mines in San Bernardino, Imperial and Inyo Counties where the materials occur as small size nodules and, as vein filling four millimeters thick with colors varying from a pale to a dark blue, or greenish-blue and green in color, or yellow-brown limonite spider webbing.

In Colorado, production is from Manassa in Conejos County, Cripple Creek, in Teller County and several small mine locations, Leadville in Lake County, near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, and near Villa Grove in Saguache County.

In New Mexico, the Cerrillos Hills mine, Santa Fe County , the Enchantment mine, near Ruidora in the Sacramento Mountains, the Tyrone mine southwest of Silver City. Turquoise is also found in small amounts in the Burro Mountains and Little Hachita Mountains in Grant County, the Jarilla Hills in Otero County and the Guadalupe Mountains in Eddy County. Mining in these location can be traced back to prehistoric Indians where seam and nugget turquoise was mined. Most of the famous and higher-quality turquoise deposits have been depleted and very little quantity is still being produced in New Mexico.

In the State of Nevada has been a major producer of turquoise from the 1930’s through the early 1980’s when the state was the largest producer in the U.S. with over 75 to 100 different mines producing quantities. The turquoise comes in various shades of blue, blue-green, green-blue, green and pale green to yellow-green to yellow with solid colored or spider webbed of different colors or shades including either brown or black webbing. The finest pure-blue turquoise can occur in thin veins or seams or as nodules. Single nodules have been as large as 150 pounds with quality varying from hard solid material that takes good polish to soft porous material that can be used as feed stock for treatment, enhancement, or stabilization process.

Each photo shows a unique piece of artisan jewelry exactly as it appears. Carefully handcrafted by our skilled designer, no two pieces are ever identical. Enjoy the workmanship and our customer-oriented shopping experience. Let Fig show you the pleasure of owning an exquisite piece of unique jewelry at a modest price.