Ada Aksakova

Turquoise brachelet with silver flowres.

In earlier times, turquoises were even responsible for the material wellbeing of the wearer. The Persian scholar Al-Qazwini, for example, wrote: 'The hand that wears a turquoise and seals with it will never see poverty.' Turquoises were often worn on the turban, and often surrounded with pearls, in order to protect their wearer against the 'evil eye'. As talismans, they adorned daggers, sabres and the bridles of horses. It was not until the time of the crusades that they came to Europe. Indeed it is from that period that the name 'turquoise' originates, meaning 'Turkish'.