Turquoise Buying Guide: How to Spot Fakes and Buy the Real Thing
Five states, five checks that leave no mark, and what 462 loose stones were asked per carat.
Real turquoise feels cool, takes a waxy polish, and its dark veins usually sit a little below the surface. But real or fake is the wrong question. Turquoise is sold in five states, from untreated stone to moulded plastic, and only the first three are turquoise. Ask the seller which one, in writing.
- What it is
- A hydrated copper and aluminium phosphate, porous, semitranslucent to opaque
- Hardness
- 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale
- Most prized
- Even, intense, medium blue, with no matrix
- Standard treatment
- Stabilising: the pores are filled with colourless plastic
- Sold under the name
- Reconstructed material, dyed howlite and magnesite, glass, plastic
- Asked per carat
- Mostly $1 to $5 (462 listings, 7 October 2026)
Natural, stabilised, dyed, reconstituted, fake: the five states of turquoise
When a seller says real turquoise, it can mean three different stones. Two more things are sold under the name.
Untreated stone
Turquoise
NaturalNothing added.
The stone is porous, so many untreated pieces discolour over time.
StabilisedStill turquoise. It is the standard treatment.
The pores are filled with a colourless plastic, and before that with wax. Colour deepens, lustre improves, the stone gets more durable.
DyedColour is added. It is not very common.
The result tends to look unnatural and does not last. Matrix gets painted too, with black shoe polish.
Not turquoise
ReconstructedAlso sold as reconstituted or block.
Powdered minerals, dyed and bonded with plastic or epoxy resin. The name misleads: it often contains no turquoise at all.
ImitationGlass, plastic, and white minerals dyed blue.
Howlite and magnesite both carry grey veins that pass for matrix. Plastic is especially common, and it can be very convincing.
Moulded plastic
Five states, not a price ladder. Only the first three are turquoise.
One more process belongs with stabilised turquoise. The Zachery method has treated more than 10 million carats since the late 1980s: better colour, less porosity, and so far no fading. The sure way to confirm it is a laboratory.
How to tell if turquoise is real without damaging it
Five checks you can do with your hands, your eyes and a loupe.
- Touch. Plastic and glass feel warmer than turquoise. Plastic is also light for its size.
- Veins. In natural turquoise the matrix often sits slightly below the polished surface. In lab-grown turquoise the web is always level with it.
- Surface. Mould marks, an orange-peel texture or gas bubbles point to glass or plastic. A surface covered in scratches points to plastic.
- Colour. Dyed turquoise tends to look artificial. On dyed stones in general, colour gathers in the surface cracks.
- Price. Compare it with what sellers really ask, further down.
Under a loupe
Where the surface gives it away
Two of the checks above are easier with a loupe: where the veins sit, and what the surface looks like.
- Matrix a little below the polish In natural turquoise the dark veins often sit slightly lower than the polished blue. In lab-grown turquoise the web sits level with it.
- Mould marks A seam or an edge left by the mould.
- Orange-peel surface Small dimples, like the skin of an orange.
- Gas bubbles Round bubbles inside, or small pits where polishing opened one at the surface.
- Scratches everywhere Plastic is soft, so its surface often shows many scratches.
Illustration. Simplified drawings of what to look for, not photographs of real stones.
A sign points, it does not prove, and none of these tells natural from stabilised turquoise. A drawing does not replace a laboratory.
These checks catch plastic, glass and clumsy dye. They will not tell you natural from stabilised: plastic impregnation is difficult to detect, and some modern treatments only show under advanced laboratory testing.
Blind test
Turquoise or not?
Six stones, no labels. Decide for each one, then see how the person who photographed it identified it.
Stone 1 of 6
Tumbled nugget
- Tumbled nuggetTurquoise or not?
Identified as not turquoise.
Sold at a market in Bangkok in 2011 and described as fake turquoise by the photographer. The material is not named.
Photo: Guy Courtois, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Changes: cropped
Oval cabochonTurquoise or not?Identified as turquoise.
Turquoise photographed in the village of Ma'dan, Nishapur, Iran. The fine brown web is its matrix.
Photo: Sonia Sevilla, CC0 · Changes: cropped
Oval cabochonTurquoise or not?Identified as turquoise.
A polished turquoise cabochon from the Blue Moon Mine in Nevada, United States, about 2.6 cm across.
Photo: James St. John, CC BY 2.0 · Changes: cropped
Drilled beadTurquoise or not?Identified as not turquoise.
Dyed magnesite. In the same photo, the same beads are dyed red, yellow, pink and purple.
Photo: Becritical, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Changes: cropped
Domed cabochonTurquoise or not?Identified as turquoise.
Turquoise photographed in the same village of Ma'dan. Not all turquoise is sky blue.
Photo: Sonia Sevilla, CC0 · Changes: cropped
Rough slabTurquoise or not?Identified as not turquoise.
Howlite, artificially coloured blue and sold under the name turquenite.
Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Changes: resized, black margins added
A photo is not enough, and no photo tells natural from stabilised. Ask the seller which state it is, in writing.
Real photos from Wikimedia Commons, cropped. Each stone is named as its photographer described it; we tested none of them. Nothing says whether the turquoises are natural or stabilised. Read on October 7, 2026. Not to scale.
Do the scratch, acetone and hot needle tests work?
Most guides send you to three home tests. My view: skip them on a stone you care about.
- Hot needle. It does reveal wax or plastic: the surface sweats, sometimes with an acrid smell. But the test is destructive, and stabilised turquoise sweats too. That stone is still turquoise.
- Scratch. Turquoise is fairly soft, 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale, so the test can scar a real stone.
- Acetone. A solvent can lift dye, but not every time. Solvents also damage painted matrix, fillings and epoxy backing.
Who scratches turquoise?
The Mohs scale is a ranking: each mineral scratches the ones below it. Steps 1 to 9 are drawn equal. The step up to diamond is much wider.
SofterMohs rankHarder
How much wider depends on how hardness is measured: by scratching the stone, or by pressing a dent into it. The Mohs number alone does not say.
Who scratches whom?
Pick two.
Turquoise and lookalikes
Another gem
Everyday things
Turquoise (5 to 6) and knife blade (about 5.5)
Too close to call. The two ranges touch, so it depends on the two pieces.
What it means
A scratch cannot tell these two apart, and it can still mark the turquoise.
Every material against turquoise
| Material | Mohs hardness | Against turquoise | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glass | about 5.5 | Too close to call. The two ranges touch, so it depends on the two pieces. | A scratch cannot tell these two apart, and it can still mark the turquoise. |
| Dyed magnesite | 3.5 to 5 | Too close to call. The two ranges touch, so it depends on the two pieces. | A scratch cannot tell these two apart, and it can still mark the turquoise. |
| Plastic | 1.5 to 3 | Turquoise scratches it | Plastic ranks 1.5 to 3, far below turquoise. That is why a surface covered in scratches points to plastic. |
| Sapphire | 9 | Scratches turquoise | Sapphire ranks 9 and scratches turquoise. In a jewelry box, keep turquoise apart from harder stones. |
| Dust and sand | about 7 | Scratches turquoise | Dust is mostly quartz, at about 7, and stones below 7 slowly abrade with cleaning and wear. On turquoise it shows less, because the stone is opaque and cut as a cabochon. |
| Steel nail | about 6.5 | Scratches turquoise | A steel nail sits at about 6.5, above turquoise. Dragged across a real stone, it leaves a scratch: the test damages what it tests. |
| Knife blade | about 5.5 | Too close to call. The two ranges touch, so it depends on the two pieces. | A scratch cannot tell these two apart, and it can still mark the turquoise. |
| Fingernail | about 2.5 | Turquoise scratches it | Turquoise is the harder one: it marks this, not the other way round. That says nothing about natural or stabilised. |
The ten reference minerals
| 1 | Talc |
|---|---|
| 2 | Gypsum |
| 3 | Calcite |
| 4 | Fluorite |
| 5 | Apatite |
| 6 | Orthoclase |
| 7 | Quartz |
| 8 | Topaz |
| 9 | Corundum |
| 10 | Diamond |
Everyday values are approximate. The rule: a material scratches anything ranked the same or lower.
None of the three answers the question that sets the price: treated or not.
Which turquoise is the most valuable?
Three things decide it: colour, texture and matrix.
- Colour. The most prized is an even, intense, medium blue. Copper makes turquoise blue, iron pushes it green, and any green tends to lower the value.
- Texture. Fine, dense turquoise takes a waxy polish. Porous turquoise stays dull, and it is the kind that usually gets treated.
- Matrix. At the top of the market, stones with no matrix command the highest prices. Attractive spiderweb patterns come second.
Does the mine name matter?
It moves the price, and it is the hardest claim to check.
- Iran. The Nishapur district is the traditional source of the top colour.
- China. Hubei province is a major source of top-colour, sky blue turquoise.
- United States. The Southwest produces the largest quantities.
- Egypt. Greenish blue to yellowish green.
Here is the trap. The trade calls the top colour Persian blue whether or not the stone was mined in Iran. A place name on a label can describe a colour, not a mine. Ask which one it is.
Is turquoise expensive?
Less than most people think. On 7 October 2026 we read 462 loose turquoise cabochons at three sellers, in US dollars. These are asking prices, not sale prices.
| Asked per carat | Listings |
|---|---|
| Under $1 | 16 |
| $1 to $5 | 419 |
| $5 to $10 | 18 |
| $10 to $50 | 9 |
The lowest was $0.68 per carat.
Turquoise is sold by the carat. Five carats make a gram, so $1 to $5 per carat is $5 to $25 per gram. A 15-carat cabochon at $3 per carat is $45 of stone.
Nearly every listing was described as natural by its seller. We verified none of them, and that is the point of this page: the word is easy to print.
For the wider picture, see our colored gemstone market statistics.
How to buy turquoise: four questions to ask
- Which of the five states is it? Get the answer in writing. A seller should disclose every treatment.
- Is the place name a mine or a colour? Ask what backs it.
- Has anything been added? Thin pieces get an epoxy backing. Cavities get filled with a metal-loaded epoxy that imitates pyrite.
- Who checked it? On a stone that matters, ask for a report from an independent outside laboratory. Our guide explains what a gemstone certificate proves.
Four questions to send before you buy turquoise
Tick them as you get answers. The button copies all four, ready to send.
4 points
A message ready to send to the seller, with all the questions.
See the message
Hello, I am interested in this turquoise. Before I decide, could you answer a few questions in writing? 1. Which is it: natural, stabilised, dyed, reconstituted, or an imitation? Could you confirm it in writing? 2. Is the place name in the listing the mine the stone came from, or the name of a colour? What backs it? 3. Has anything been added: an epoxy backing, a filled cavity, or painted matrix? 4. Is there a report from an independent outside laboratory for this exact stone, and does it say whether it is treated? Thank you for your time.
Once it is yours, our guide to wearing and caring for turquoise jewelry covers the rest.
We do not carry turquoise today: we source in Sri Lanka. Our turquoise page has the details. If you want a stone picked one at a time, choose the stone first and design the piece around it.
Quick answers
Is stabilized turquoise real turquoise?
Can you tell if turquoise is real with a UV light?
Can turquoise get wet?
Can turquoise be lab grown?
The bottom line
Stop asking real or fake. Ask which of the five states, ask it in writing, and keep needles and solvents away from a stone you like. When the answer changes the price, a laboratory gives it, not a kitchen test.
