Authentic
Native American Jewelry | ||||||||
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Thomas, Navajo NE695 - $198 SOLD | |||||||
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What is White Buffalo?White Buffalo (Sacred Buffalo Stone, White Turquoise) was discovered at the Dry Creek turquoise mine on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada in 1993. To date, this is the only place it is found. White Buffalo is as rare as the sacred white buffalo, which is why the Shoshone Indians named it Sacred Buffalo Stone. It is white with black and/or brown matrix and it is sometimes called white turquoise but it is technically not turquoise. This is because turquoise, by definition, contains copper (it is a copper aluminum phosphate), which is what gives turquoise its characteristic blue color (presence of iron will shift the color toward green). Although Sacred Buffalo Stone resembles turquoise in hardness and will polish to a high shine like turquoise, it has no copper, thus no blue color. Read my blog post White Turquoise Demystified . |
About Silver100% solid silver won't tarnish but it is too soft to use for making jewelry - it could easily be scratched, dented and bent. Sterling silver has a small amount of one or more other metals usually copper, added to the silver. To be called sterling silver, the alloy must contain at least 92.5% pure silver. Sterling silver alloy is harder than pure silver but the added metals also can cause discoloration or tarnish. |
