Egyptian Turquoise
is so imperial in appearance that it had pride of place in the
jewellery collection of many Pharaohs of the ancient civilisation.
Its red, coppery webbing cutting through a distinctive greenish
blue stone make it perfect to set into gold, so it was and still is
amongst the most desirable jewellery to come out of the Sinai
Peninsula.
Sitting between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the Sinai
is one of the world’s most important historical sources of the
semi-precious gemstone of Turquoise. It was so popular, in fact,
that most of the supply from the mines in the southwest of the
region are believed to have been used up, which is what makes
Egyptian Turquoise so globally desirable today.
The translucent stone from the Sinai has the distinction of
featuring dark blue discs on its surface when viewed through a
microscope; by contrast, the Turquoise mined in Persia (modern-day
Iran) has a bluer hue with less webbing throughout the finished
stones.The noblest members of Ancient Egyptian society draped
Turquoise around their necks for the protective qualities it was
believed to bring, so it’s no surprise that it remains as
fashionable today as it was around 3000 BC.