Most of the turquoise on the market has been treated in some way to deal with four problems characteristic with this gemstone. First, turquoise is soft, sometimes even brittle, and thus susceptible to fractures. Second, turquoise is porous and which makes it is susceptible to staining, discoloration, and fading. Third, untreated turquoise never comes in a slab form just "rocks", so you can never make knife handles. Fourth, turquoise is getting harder to find and supplies are of a lower quality. These four problems can be handled in different ways, but the most common techniques is to reconstitute the turquoise by grinding the turquoise to a powder then adding a binding agent then dried. This makes slabs of turquoise which can then be used for knife handles. This particular piece provides a nice contrast to the White Marble.