Raw Materials/Supplies

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Gold and Silver Prices for

Handy/Harmon Silver Spot 
12:00pm ET
$?.??

Handy/Harmon Gold Spot 
12:00pm ET
$???.??

Welcome to the Raw Materials and Supplies section of Pueblo Trading Post! Local and area craftspeople come in daily to the Raw Materials section for silver, turquoise, coral, semi-precious stones, tools and other supplies to make some of the beautiful hand-crafted items we sell in our Retail Showroom. Our Raw Materials and Supplies section is conveniently located next door to our Retail Showroom, so local craftspeople don't have to travel very far to buy supplies or sell their genuine hand-made arts and crafts!

TURQUOISE
Turquoise is a highly versatile gemstone, used for a number of different purposes. The many varieties of turquoise vary in color from a dull greenish-gray to brilliant sky-blue. The sky-blue varieties are the most valued as gems, and are used in Zuni jewelry and fetish carvings. The finest specimens of turquoise come from Iran; other sources include China and the Southwest United States, although most of the mines in this region are now depleted.

CORAL
The hard skeleton of many different types of small, sedentary marine animals which are related to anemones is called coral. Live corals grow in both warm and temperate climates, but they are most abundant in warm, shallow waters. Dead coral is harvested for use in making many types of Indian jewelry, and is most often used in combination with other semi-precious gemstones including turquoise and mother-of-pearl.

DEER/ELK ANTLER
Deer and elk antlers, unlike the horns of sheep and cattle, are composed almost entirely of bone. They are shed annually by male deer and elk after the rutting/mating season is over. Antlers are collected in the forests where the deer shed them. They are found either by hunters or hikers and brought back to carvers who then cut and carve them into various figurines.

"FOSSIL" IVORY
Fossil ivory comes from Alaska, Siberia and Canada. Some of the collected ivory comes from what is known as "beach ivory," or ivory that has washed up on shore from walruses that have died naturally. True fossil ivory is collected by Yupik Eskimos from ancient sites 100 to 2,500 years old. Beach ivory is called "fossil" after taking on the off-white to dark brown coloring of true fossil ivory. It is important to note that no animals are killed for this ivory.

DENIM LAPIZ
A medium blue stone usually flecked with yellow iron pyrites, closely resembling the indigo blue color of denim jeans, hence its name. Denim lapiz and its close cousin, lapis lazuli, is most usually found in metamorphosed limestone in Afghanistan, Chile, Siberia, California, and Colorado. It has been used since ancient times for beads and other small ornaments, but many Zuni silvermsiths have been using it to create magnificent works of art.

MOTHER-OF-PEARL
Mother-of-pearl is not a mineral in and of itself. It actually refers to the iridescent pearl-like surface of certain fresh and salt water mollusk shells. Mother-of-pearl is not usually used by fetish carvers. It is more often used in jewelry, used in combination with turquoise, coral and other gemstones. Chief sources of mother-of-pearl are California, Japan, and other Pacific regions.

SPINY OYSTER
As its name implies, spiny oysters are covered with menacing-looking spines and comes to us from the Atlantic Ocean, along the beaches of Baja California and Baja Mexico in the Sea of Cortez. In ancient times, spiny oyster shell was used as a subsititute for coral because of its fiery orange color. Remains of spiny oyster shell have been found at Anasazi, Mogollon and Hohokam sites.

PICASSO MARBLE
Picasso marble, a stone found in Utah, is used primarily by Zuni carvers. It is named for the unique matrix of black, tan and gray lines which formed when magma from prehistoric volcanoes was forced through fissures in magma-covered limestone beds. The amazing conglomeration of colors, patterns and textures resemble those commonly found in paintings by Picasso, hence the name.

ARIZONA PIPESTONE
Pipestone, a fairly soft reddish-brown claystone, is used by many Zuni carvers. It is named for its primary use as pipes among the Plains tribes of the northeast. Most pipestone, a type of limestone found in clay deposits, is also known as catlinite, named for George Catlin who discovered a unique deposit of pipestone in Minnesota in 1836. The deep reddish-brown color is believed to come from hematite, a red iron ore.