Every April I look forward to the gem and mineral show in Troy,
Ohio. I love it because there are tables full of rock, minerals,
fossils and BEADS! The other reason is because my old friend, Shellie
is a vendor at the show and it’s the only time in a year that I see
her. Shellie has been in the jewelry business for about 300 years or
more and knows all about kinds of rocks. She’s the owner of Sheldon Studio, in New York.
Shellie is also a fellow New Yorker. I’m not sure if you know this,
but certain New Yorkers are born with a bag of bull that they carry
around with them. I’m not saying we lie……never that………but we sure do
know a lot of stories and we know how to embellish them. So, when two
New Yorkers such as Shellie and I get together there is a lot of arm and
hand flapping, lots of talking and plenty of embellishment. It’s a beautiful thing.
I found some cool beads on her table, some Dragon’s Vein, which I’d
never seen before and some gorgeous rain forest jasper! Then I spied
two strands only of this odd brown and white faceted bead. What the
heck is this I ask? and out comes Shellie’s bag of stories. She closed
her shop and was clearing out odd stuff when she found a few strands of
this White Buffalo turquoise. I never heard of it, I tell her and she
says it is very rare, you can hardly find it any more and I should only
use one bead to a piece and charge no less than ten bucks a bead. When
this stuff is gone, she says, there is no more. A little more
embellishment and
SOLD.
I bought a strand and added it to my pile.
Of course, when I got home, I had to look White Buffalo turquoise up
on the ‘net, not that I didn’t trust Shellie and her embellishments,
but….I had to see for myself. Was this an endangered species of rock or
not?
I could only find about 4 articles and they all seemed to be copies of one article published in the
Rockhound Gazette in
2000. I’m guessing that if I never heard of this rock, there are a lot
of other people who might be interested in learning about it. I did
find
one other article
on the web that explains how the owner of the mine had an exclusive
agreement to sell his stones to only one person and how secretive the
whole operation is.
The only place this stone is found is on the Shoshone reservation at
Dry Creek mine near Battle Mountain in Nevada. That’s one of the
reasons it is so rare. In the whole world, this is the only vein that
has been found and it wasn’t discovered until 1993. Jewelers didn’t
start using it until 1996 after it was tested and proven to be true
turquoise.
This mine is now closed. White Buffalo Turquoise is now an endangered species!
It takes a certain set of rare circumstances for turquoise to be formed. (I might have to do a blog about
that).
Most turquoise is blue because of the mineral copper which is present
during its formation. This is the case for most Arizona turquoise. Some
turquoise is a blue-green when iron is the predominant mineral present.
This is the case in most Nevada turquoise. A yellowish green color
comes from zinc. I think Chinese turquoise is that yellowy green color.
White turquoise is formed only when
no
minerals are present and that is a very, very rare circumstance
indeed. It is such a rare stone that the Native people took to calling
it Sacred Buffalo turquoise.
I did find some pictures of jewelry made from this stone. Most of
the less expensive pieces have a very light blue coloring with the white
and brown. The “best” pieces are very expensive and have only the
brown and white color. I’m only putting up one picture and for fear of
copyright infringement, there is a link to the
Black Arrow Indian site where I found it. You’ll see lots of jewelry there made from this stone.
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| beautiful pendant of white buffalo stone |
This gorgeous pendant cost over $1500!!!
I always look up the lore and myths surrounding a stone but there
were no pages with stone lore about white turquoise. It’s such a new
stone, it hasn’t had time to build a mythos. So, what would be the
lore you would expect from such a rare stone with such a name? Let’s
have some input folks! Think about it first……
Well, most of us know about the legend of the
White Buffalo Calf.
In brief, White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to the Lakota people
about 2000 years ago, the same time frame that Christ was teaching his
lessons and Quetzacoatl teachings appeared in South America. She
taught the People sacred ceremonies and prophesied that when times were
difficult a white buffalo calf would be born, a symbol to the people
that a new age was beginning, an age of peace and understanding among
all peoples. This legend spread to other tribes. One version says that
women
will lead the changes. An interesting side note here is that in 1994, a
year after this stone was discovered, a white buffalo calf
was
born, not an albino, a true white calf. This calf, named Miracle,
became a symbol of hope for all who knew the legend and the legend
spread far and wide across the globe with his birth.
Indeed, many years after his birth, people are touching each other
globally through the internet. More and more people are concerned with
preserving the earth and trying for understanding of other cultures.
It’s a slow process, but there is hope….
I meditated about this and for me, I see this stone as a symbol of
hope, like the white buffalo calf, a hope for a better future for my
children and grandchildren and all the children of the world. It’s a
hope that there will be peace between them and understanding and love
and that the world will focus less upon greed and gain and more upon
learning and spiritual growth and that people will treat the earth with
respect. (
Hey, a mythos and legend has to start somewhere!)
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| White Buffalo Stone Beads |
So, what to do with these beads. So far, I’ve only made two
prototypes, a bracelet and a pendant. I used copper because no copper
was present when the stones were formed and copper will help nurture and
support the stone. I could not resist the tiny blue turqouise beads
because I love the color of sky and freedom and for faith. I also used
bone beads: bone because it helps you get in touch with your higher
self, and, of course, a feather, a universal symbol of peace. The
pendant should be hung on leather, I think, in keeping with the First
American traditions. I’m playing with another bracelet idea. Whatever I
make, they will be limited edition pieces. When I’m done, that’s it. I
picture women wearing them, strong women who have deep earth roots and
who will create a cone of power that will move aside negative walls of
energy and create space for peace and hope and a world in balance and
help restore the Sacred Hoop, One Planet, One People.
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| Peace Bracelet |
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| Peace Pendant |
One final note: If you are looking for this stone, be sure you know
your dealer and that your dealer know what they are selling. (I’ve been
to booths where the owner wasn’t sure about their stones) There are
stones out that that are howlite which are being sold as white buffalo
stone. Howlite is white but it has black matrix not chocolate color.
And may the peace and hope promised by White Buffalo Calf Woman come to us soon.
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| White Buffalo Calf Woman |
About the Author
I am a teacher. I’ve learned a lot about stones and minerals and
folklore: the history behind the stones. I teach special classes for
underprivileged kids. I teach everyone who asks about the ancient uses
of rocks and stones.
To order Lee's beautiful handmade jewelry, you can visit
Strega Jewellry.
