Gemstones

Gemstones Used in Native American Jewelry

A gemstone is any natural stone, shell or coral that is cut and set in jewelry. Native Americans have used natural gemstones such as turquoise for hundreds of years!

Amber is fossil resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty. Good quality amber is used for the manufacture of ornamental objects and jewelry. A common misconception is that Amber is made of tree sap; it is not. Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant.

Most of the world's amber is in the range of 3090 million years old. Because it used to be soft and sticky tree resin, amber can sometimes contain insects and even small vertebrates. Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellowy-orange that is associated with the color "amber", amber itself can range from whitish through a pale lemon yellow to brown and almost black. There is also red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after.

Boulder Turquoise is cut in such as fashion as to show the vein of turquoise in its natural host, or mother, stone. Each stone is one-of-a-kind in color, matrix and design. Mined primarily in Nevada. View our selection of boulder turquoise here.

Coral is made from the calcareous skeletal remains of thousands of minute sea animals. With a rock-like hardness, the tree-fan forms come in a variety of colors ranging from shades of blood-red, to orange, to pink, to white.

Crazy Horse stone is a kind of limestone material exhibiting natural circles and lines of flamboyant colors and combinations. No two pieces are alike.

Dry Creek Turquoise: The lack of any specific color consistency makes the Dry Creek stones distinctive and unique from other turquoises. It is found in Nevada and is the most pale of all the turquoises in the world. For an in-depth article click here. To view Sacred Buffalo Turquoise jewelry for sale click here.

Gaspeite s a rare semi-precious gemstone that has the most strikingly beautiful chartreuse to apple green color. This unique stone is found in only two places in the world. In 1966 it was discovered in the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec, Canada, hence the name. Later it was also found in Western Australia. For more on gaspeite and to view gaspeite jewelry for sale click here.

Lapis lazuli (sometimes abbreviated to lapis) is a semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense blue color. The finest color is intense blue, lightly dusted with small flecks of golden pyrite. The lighter color is called "denim lapis". View our Lapis jewelry here.

Larimar is a beautiful and rare gemstone of a blue variety of pectolite found only in the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean. Its coloration varies from white, light-blue, green-blue to deep blue. The deep blue variant is known as volcanic blue. Although pectolite is found in many locations, none have the unique volcanic blue coloration of larimar. This blue color, distinct from that of other pectolites, is the result of cobalt substitution for calcium. View our Larimar jewelry here.

Malachite is a mineral, whose name is derived from Greek molochitis, "mallow-green stone". It has beautiful, unique bands of light and dark green. For more on malachite and to view our malachite jewelry, go here.

is highly prized, both for its uniquely beautiful appearance, but especially for its rarity. Celebrated for the golden brown to black distinctive spider web matrix and bright blues, Number 8 turquoise has been valued for its beauty since it was first discovered in 1929.

The only mine, located in the Lynn mining district in Eureka County, Nevada and it is no longer producing turquoise. For more information and to view our Number 8 Turquoise jewelry go here.

Opal used in Native American jewelry is similar to natural gemstone opal, which takes
millions of years to form, however this opal is created in a manufacturing
process that takes many months and produces a high quality created gemstone. Cultured opal has all the fire of a natural opal and comes in many colors from white to green and many shades of blue and is more durable than natural opal. View our opal jewelry here.

Sacred Buffalo Stone is not to be confused with "white buffalo" (see below). This stone comes from the Dry Creek mine located o the Shoshone Reservation in Nevada. It is the palest turquoise in the world. For an in-depth article click here. To view Sacred Buffalo Turquoise jewelry for sale click here.

Spiny Oyster Shell is Spondylus. The shell comes in three main colors: red, orange, purple and sometimes white and yellow. The name Spondylus is a Latin word that means spines on its back. View our large selection of spiny oyster shell jewelry.

Sugilite is a relatively rare pink to purple mineral. Sugilite was first described in 1944.

White Buffalo is a name used by Native American jewelry makers for black and white mineral known as magnesite. It is not a white turquoise. Not to be confused with a very pale robin's egg blue turquoise from the Dry Creek mine in Nevada that is sometimes called the "Sacred Buffalo" stone. Howlite is another stone that is used and called white buffalo.