‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎168r] (340/722)

The turquoises at the mines are first divided into three classes :—
(1) An gushtari. | (2) Barkliana.
(3) Arabi.
(1) All turquoises of good and fast colour and favourable shape are
classed with the c angushtari 3 stones (ring stones). They are sold by
the piece. It is impossible to fix any price, or classify them according to
different qualities.
A stone, two-thirds of an inch in length, two-fifths of an inch in width, and
about 4 an inch thick, cut ‘ peikani ’ shape, was valued at Mashhad at £300.
Another of the same size, shape, and cut was only valued at £80. Turquoises
the size of a pea are sometimes sold for £8. The colour most prized is deep
sky-blue. A small speck of a lighter colour, which only connoisseurs can
distinguish, or an almost imperceptible tinge of green, decreases the value
considerably. Then there is that indefinable property of a good turquoise,
the ‘ zat/ something like the water of a diamond or the lustre of a pearl.
A fine-coloured turquoise without the ‘ zat ’ is not worth much. A deep
colour, almost an indigo-like blue, is called ‘ talkh/ bitter, and decreases the
value of the stone. The best angushtari stones are found in the khaki
diggings and in the Abdurizayi mine.
(2) The barkhana stones are generally divided into four qualities and
sold by weight. The first quality cost at the mines between 1,500 and
1,600 tumans per Tabriz man, equal to about £90 per lb. The fourth
quality is worth 70 to 80 tumans per man. Only the_first and part of the
second quality are sent to Europe; the others are sold in the country to Per
sian jewellers and goldsmiths, particularly at Mashhad, and are employed
for encrusting Persian articles of jewellery, armlets, daggers, and sword-hilts
and sheaths, horse trappings, &c. At Mashhad small cut turquoises of the
third quality can be bought at the rate of from Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 per 1,000.
Many of the barkhana stones sent to Europe are employed by European
jewellers for rings; but the mere fact of the miners themselves not classing
them with the angushtari stones proves them to be of an inferior quality.
(3) Arabi turquoises.—All stones not belonging to the first two kinds are
called arabi. Their name is of recent origin, and was first adopted at the
mines for bad, and in Persia unsaleable, stones. Some of the miners when
on a pilgrimage to IVlecca had taken with them a quantity of bad tuiquoises,
and sold them well to the Arabs. Since then any pale-green or spotted
turquoise is called arabi. The whitish turquoises of this kind are called
‘shirbumi" or f shirfam/and round pieces with a white crust are called
< chaghaleh/ Many of the so-called arabi turquoises are, however, bought
by Persians, and many go to Europe. _ The large flat pieces and slabs used
for armlets, brooches, &c., at the mines called ‘tutal, aie now classed
with the arabi stones, although some of them are very much esteemed ,
pieces of 2 inches in length, 1 inch in width, and i inch in thickness being
sometimes valued at 10 tumans. Stones of a greenish colour called Gul-i-
Khasni (chicory) are bought principally by Afghans, 12 lbs._ m weight
of pale-coloured, 'tuta!' stones, and sold at the mines sometimes for as
much as 180 tumans. . . ^
About 200 men of the Madan village work m the mines and m the khaki
di-o-incs, and 25 or 30, the Rish-i-Safids, the elders of the village, buy
tlm turquoises and sell them to the merchants and jewellers either at
Mashhad or at the mines. The original finders of the turquoise do not gam
much A who works in the mines gains on an average about o krans
37