Turquoise jewelry is representative for Native American culture
Jewels and precious stones play a very significant part in Native American culture, as they represent certain concepts or ideas. Therefore, when you buy Turquoise jewelry, you don’t only buy items which have great aesthetic value – you buy jewelry which stands as symbol for the native American cultural heritage.
Nowadays, people use jewelry mostly to adorn themselves, to be in trend with the latest fashion concepts or to emphasize certain bodily features. In Native American culture, jewelry has a much more meaningful role: it confers protection and carries important symbolism. Turquoise jewelry is still manufactured today by traditional artists. Creating these pieces is not just a mechanical activity, it’s a science and an art at the same time. For these artists, the process of creation is sacred as they believe that each piece of jewelry crafted reflects the whole Native American culture. Art, they say, is not separated from culture; in fact, art is an extension of culture which reflects its richness and which also actively contributes to the enriching of culture. The ties between art and culture, two concepts with deep roots in the Indian history, are very dynamic, they’re always changing but somehow manage to keep their essence.
In today’s consumerist society, objects, including jewelry, are made for consumption; they’re deprived of all other meaning and only have an economical or, in the best case, an aesthetic value. That’s not how artists see their Turquoise jewelry: their objects are precious because they’re made from the heart. Navajo jewelry is very popular today, but this popularity has its advantages and disadvantages: while it’s great that this culture’s richness and beauty is recognized and appreciated, there are companies which exploit this popularity and fabricate cheap jewelry imitations. The evolution of cheap imitation jewelry markets threatens the art of Indian jewelry artists. If you want to contribute to preserving the beautiful and rich Native American culture, you should know more about authentic Turquoise jewelry, you should know how to distinguish natural stones from fake ones. For instance, there are various types of Turquoise: each type of stone has a different value, which is rated according to the rarity of the stone and its naturalness. The best Turquoise is the one that’s been mined and which hasn’t gone through intensive processing. The less the stone is altered, the higher its value.
When buying Turquoise jewelries, it’s very important that you know the properties and characteristics of the materials/stones, in order to avoid being scammed. Being an educated buyer will help you make wise investments and buy original pieces whose value will not with decrease in time. There are loads of websites online which offer information on Native American jewelry, how to recognize the best stones and how to care for jewelry. Ideally, you should only buy from native jewelry artists – they put their heart into each jewel they make and thus each piece is unique and original.
Turquoise jewelry reflects the richness of Native American culture. Educate yourself about this type jewelry to know how to differentiate authentic pieces from fake ones.
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