My Love of Turquoise

From our house, we can see the Cerrillos Hills, a famous area for turquoise mines. Historically, mining dates from prehistoric times long before the Spanish conquistadors came to Santa Fe. The Cerrillos district is the site of the most extensive prehistoric mining operations known on the American continent. The primitive Pueblo people considered turquoise to be pieces of the blue fallen sky. Until 1889, New Mexican or American turquoise had only trinket value. At the end of the 1800s, New York jewelers acquired control of the mines and successfully marketed New Mexican turquoise as a gem stone. One of these companies was Tiffany, whose signature gift boxes remain the color of turquoise to this day. I love to wear my turquoise jewelry, including what I call my "boot bracelet" pictured here.