How to Test Turquoise at Home

A simple video showing two methods for testing turquoise at home.
Both methods are non-destructive to natural turquoise. However, both methods will leave marks to fake turquoise.
New video here shows the hot needed on a fake piece:

New Video Here shows some new lab created turquoise and also shows which liquids can be substituted for acetone:

Supplies List:
Q Tips are great for applying the acetone to the stones:

Acetone:
Note that this IS different than fingernail polish, so using actual acetone will make a difference in the results. You can pick this up at most hardware stores, or online here:

Nitrile Gloves
Important: Nitrile WILL degrade with acetone, so while they offer protection for a few short tests, if you are going to be working with acetone for a prolonged period, then Butyl Rubber Gloves will be a much better choice. Please note that "black nitrile" is not Butyl.

The Nitrile gloves I use in my shop can be found here:

Butyl Rubber gloves are more expensive, but are reusable and offer a better skin protection against harsher chemicals. They can be found here:

Kitchen Lighter:
These are handy for lighting candles, or directly heating the needle to test the turquoise. Plus, I use them all the time in my shop for various purposes such as melting ends of paracord, etc...

Cheers,
Austin

Disclosure:
I am a member of the Amazon Affiliates program and Earn a commission on any sales made through the links to the products I endorse. I make a great effort to only endorse products which I myself use and enjoy.

[salmaom]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge I bought a ring from a Turkish jeweller, the original stone was onyx and I requested Turquoise they swapped the stone with 2 weeks without extra cost. The turquoise stone was beautiful highly polished. I touch it it felt a bit waxy and was cold. As soon as I got home I took your advice and used all the test methods. I gave the next day I gave my sister the ring for an additional test to the stone with hydrochloric acid in her lab she’s a chemist and no reaction. I’m now confident to gift it to my husband. Thanks to you and the generous Turkish jeweller at Brent Cross London Desire

[shoutg]

Thank you, so much for this demonstration. My daughter had given me a beautiful bracelet with a turquoise stone, but I knew right away that it wasn’t. It looked like polymer, to me, and so, I scraped away the surface (not having watched this video) - a lighter turquoise, then white revealed itself.
When I wrote to the designer (Etsy), she was actually glad to know, but sad that she, too, was deceived by the supplier.
I will treasure it, and wear it, because it was a gift, and I won’t tell my daughter what I found out. I’m glad to know, now, how to test it, should I ever buy a turquoise piece, myself. Thank you!

[PSMITHjl]

Great practical tests for turquoise, especially for the casual buyer.

Turquoise is one of the most difficult gemstones for a buyer to try to understand & identify, because so much of the value is based on its origin (mine name, lore) and many sellers are willing to attach false provenance. Turquoise has so much variation in matrix, color & stone features, that even with material from the same mine so can be really frustrating to quantify, that many consumers just rely on the honesty of a seller- which is not always warranted.

So having some simple tests that we can use to at least discern physical properties is extremely helpful. Thank you!

[Shock_Treatment]

I actually knew about all of these tests before I watched this video, but it's still interesting nonetheless. One thing I'd like to point out is that there is a lot of fake turquoise in the market, but there's also a lot of stabilized turquoise too. Natural, gem-quality turquoise is constantly becoming rarer, and the majority of turquoise you'll find in jewelry nowadays is stabilized. I think most people associate that as it being fake, but that's not the case. The stabilized turquoise you usually see in jewelry is mostly chalk turquoise, which is the most common type of turquoise that's found, and it's too soft to be used in jewelry unless it has been stabilized. I think it can be a good option for most people though because it's affordable, it still looks pretty nice (at least in my opinion), and it actually does have some benefits over natural turquoise. After stabilization, it does become much harder, and the process also prevents oils and things from penetrating the stone over time, so it will never change color, and it will never crumble. Natural turquoise can change color over time depending on what it comes in contact with. There's also the rarity factor of natural, gem-quality turquoise that makes it very difficult to find. I have a few pieces, and they were definitely not cheap... at all, so anything I'd actually wear would probably be stabilized simply because it can withstand daily life better, and it's much easier to find replacements if anything should happen to them.

[anneschofield]

Thank you Austin for this excellent demonstration. I knew my stones were dyed Howlite because of the lighter color around the hole drilled in the bead.

[duchessnanciann]

I am currently on my sixth decade on this Earth 🌎 and as I have always said, “every single day you learn something new ”. Thank you for a great lesson of which firstly I’ll be passing on to my daughter who loves turquoise.👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[stephen]

Sir,
Your video helped me to identify a fake piece of turquoise using the Acetone test. All pieces passed the heat test.
That being said, I say the following out of love. Your video highlighted all real - non test failure - pieces except for where that one piece, from that $1.50 bag, where it failed the acetone test.
It's good to show BOTH modes - pass or fail for the viewer. I wanted to see a heat test failure.
Thank you again!

[IsmailShaikh-soyg]

Finally a video that actually shows how to identify and test. Thanks buddy.

[Demonanimator]

I did the one thing you should never do which is buy turquoise off someone on the street. Someone on Facebook posted a Navajo silver ring with set turquoise and red coral which looked worn out heavily. I was mostly after the silver, which to my luck it actually was, and thanks to your video and others I was able to test both stones and they are also 100% real.
Thanks again for sharing this info!

[slh]

After watching this video I was able to use this technique to test some recent purchases I made online that I was having some question about. Sure enough one of the pieces rubbed off blue dye, which was funny because as soon as it turned blue on my qtip the stone fell out of the setting. But what was nice was when I checked three other pieces I wasn’t sure about they were fine. Thank you for this wonderful tip. Now I know that there’s a pretty good way to test!

[marjoriehart]

This was REALLY helpful! I just bought a ring used and it looked kind of too good — but now I know it at least wasn’t dyed! Thanks for doing this!!

[phillysmom]

Thank you very much for showing how to make sure what we're buying is true turquoise! I don't want to be scammed, and I don't want to unintentionally rip off a customer or client. Reputation is priceless.

[bernardf.]

The first video about turquoise that I truly appreciated on YouTube. Because of you, I can buy with confidence.

[rodwoods]

I have a few old pieces, I let my daughters and soon my GrandDaughter wear. It is the good stuff form the 1950's and I really enjoy family wearing it. Thanks for a good vid, do us some more.! I have been always into the pottery and have one two Grey Hills rug from early sixtys. Now have experts almost related to help me on rugs. My Grandson immediately knew I had Churro wool and showed me how to tell.

[investingsouthflorida]

Thanks! My watch tips I bought has real turquoise! Can’t find a lighter to see if it has been treated but at least I know it passed the Acetone test! 🙌

[sasharadjenovic]

Thank you for this most helpful video. I recently ordered a few estate sterling pieces with turqouise. In the ad, they claimed it as faux turquoise, but i have my doubts, because you can tell these are quality pieces of jewelry and they even state on their site that not all pieces are tested. So i cant wait to receive them and do your tests on them. Either way, the sterling statement bracelets alone, along with the other pieces of jewelry were worth the price i paid 😊

[kwlloyd]

Yes, thanks! I’ve been collecting turquoise & silver jewellery for a few years. It’s nice to have some criteria as I look at stone in a shop. Luckily, I’ve been using a very reputable seller.

[netcreativedesigns]

Thank you! I appreciate it. I definitely will check it out for the future but when I confronted him, he admitted that even the ones that didn’t fall the tests were completely fake. Really frustrating but I’m glad for the resource and that I knew there was a win the first place

[roxannetellini]

I have had several pieces of what I have though was turquoise for 30+ years. It looks a lot like your dyed howlite. The funny thing is I was planning on buying some white howlite for my collection. It turns out I might already have some! I am looking forward to testing it out now.

[lisac.]

Thank you, I love Turquoise. The pieces you got are lovely.