AMERICAN TURQUOISE.
EACH MINE HAS ITS OWN VARIETY
OF NATIVE BLUES AND GREENS.
I taught silver-smithing in a rehabilitation program in Santa Fe, as an alternative to
military service.
I am a Quaker and am a "conscientious objector" I had never seen
such deep blue turquoise
or deep blue skies until I moved to New Mexico in 1973. I have always been
fascinated by how
well the colors sky blue and light brown go together. I dearly love New Mexico.
Persian Turquoise
Outside the Southwest, jewelers sell rings and pendants made mostly with
a very standardized blue turquoise. It has little non-blue matrix and comes
in very regular shapes.
In the Southwest turquoise comes in many colors,
shapes and a wide variety of natural matrices.
It is this rich variety that I wish to catalogue here
for the viewers', and my own, pleasure and edification.
In The Rough
Turquoise Chemistry
CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8 .
5H20 + Fe
http://www.gemsociety.org/info/gems/turquoise.htm
The International Gem Society writes:
"Chemically, turquoise is a hydrated
copper/aluminum phosphate, of aggregate,
cryptocrystalline structure. There is only one known deposit, in the state of Virginia,
where turquoise is found in transparent to translucent visible crystals. Specimens from
that locale are rare and bring a hefty price from collectors. More typically, turquoise is
found as an opaque deposit in nodules, or veins within host rocks, or as shallow crusts
on the surface of rocks.
Color ranges through shades of blue to blue-green, to yellowish green depending
on the amount of copper, (adds blue,) chromium or vanadium, (adds green,) and iron,
(adds yellow). There are rare specimens of blue-violet color which contain strontium
impurities. In general, US mines produce slightly greenish blue, to green gems due to
high iron and vanadium content. Most turquoise rough contains patches or veins of the
host rock in which it formed, such as chalcedony or opal, brown limonite, black chert,
or white kaolinite. Such matrix can affect the color and toughness of the stone and
its
workability for the lapidary or jeweler. Relatively pure specimens of turquoise might
have a hardness of around 5 and be moderately porous. In general, a high proportion
of silicate minerals increases hardness and decreases the porosity, while a high content
of clay minerals, has the opposite effect. On one end of this spectrum, then, we find
pieces of hardness 5.5 to 6 that take a bright polish and are minimally porous, and on the
other end are pieces of a soft and chalky nature with so much porosity as to be unusable
without stabilization.
Turquoise occurs, usually in arid regions, where ground water percolates
through aluminous rock in the vicinity of copper deposits. Like malachite, it is a
secondary mineral which forms through the interaction of pre-existing minerals and their
solutions. "
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Stabilizing versus Colonization Treatments
Turquoise stones are often "treated". Turquoise is only a moderately hard
stone.
So, it is usually "stabilized" with a backing and then polished. This is
normal and to be expected.
High quality turquoise is not harmed or diminished in value with a backing.
Stabilizing can be
done without changing its color using a resin called "Opticon". When a
stone is "backed", it has
been coated on one side with an epoxy or liquid steel type of compound. This allows softer
stones
(especially Turquoise) to be more safely cut and polished. It also lets them be set
by the jeweler more
easily. The stone can stand out above the bezel that holds the stone tightly in
place. The backing
also protects the stone when it is worn. Some collectors do not like backings
because it is not
natural and and adds to the cost of the stone. But most South West silversmiths use
backed stones
exclusively.
Becuase high quality, naturally deep blue or deep green turquoise is relatively scarce,
a good many turquoise dealers artificially deepen its color to make it more
sellable. Color "treated"
turquoise has very little value. A plastic, which has a color dye, is
impreganted using pressure.
Shoe polish is used by these dealers to give the matrix (the non-turquoise part of the
stone) a more
webbed effect. If you buy them off EBAY and the dealer does not tell you the
stones are "not
color treated", it is likely the color has been enhanced artificially and the stone
is worth little.
I suspect a gold colored epoxy has been added
to this stone to the matrix more appealing.
Skin Oils will will Turn Blue Turquoise Green
If you rub your turquoise, the skin oils will eventually turn green
a naturally blue turquoise.
I prefer the original colors. If you want to have the stone retain its original
color, don't run it for
"luck". I am told a smoker may alter the stone's color more easily and
much more quickly. Perhaps,
they touch the stone more. So, there's another reason not to smoke.
Know Your Stones - Buy Only Quality -
Make A Smart Investment
Homer Milfred - NM BLM Report on Abandoned Mines, 1994.
http://www.indianvillage.com/turquoisegrades.htm
- High Grade Natural Turquoise: found in all shades from
sky blue to apple green. It is the hardest grade and takes the best polish.
The contrast between the color of turquoise and the color of matrix {or
mother rock} enhances the beauty of each stone. Many
mines produce distinctive stones whose origin can be identified by an
experienced person.
- Enhanced turquoise: The Zachery or Foutz process
impregnates turquoise with vaporized quartz. This makes the stone harder,
darkens the color and takes a good polish. This process is hard to detect by
normal methods because quartz occurs naturally
with some turquoise.
- Stabilized or Treated Turquoise: American manufacturers
have perfected a process using pressure and heat to fill the
microscopic gaps in the stone with plastic resin. When cured the product is a
treated stone hard enough to cut and polish.
Most nugget and some heishi products are made from real turquoise that has
been stabilized. Stabilization allows genuine
but lower grade turquoise to be used in jewelry.
- Wax Treated: Much of the turquoise from China is wax
impregnated. The paraffin treatment deepens and stabilizes the color
but only affects the surface.
- Reconstituted: This term describes pulverized
turquoise scrap from stone cutting mixed with blue dye and plastic binder.
Most products marketed under this name should really by labeled as simulated
“block”. Compressed Nugget is a similar
product made from larger pieces.
- Block: A mixture of plastic resin and dyes that
is produced in loaf sized blocks. We used to call this reconstituted because
we were told it was made from ground up turquoise scraps. In reality there
is no actual rock of any sort in block turquoise;
it is entirely man-made and should be labeled “simulated”. Block
is produced in many colors, simulating many different
stones and shells. Except for occasional batches of Lapis Block that contain
ground up iron pyrite, these are entirely simulated.
Block is used heavily for inlay and heishi.
- Dyed Stones: There are several naturally
occurring stones that look similar to turquoise when they are dyed blue. These include
Howlite, a white rock with black or gray markings, and Magnite or Magnesite,
a chalky white mineral that forms in rough
nodules looking faintly like the vegetable cauliflower. Other simulations
include glass, plastic, faience ceramic and polymer clay.
BEWARE - Treated, Blue-Dye impregnated stones.
Watch out for stones that are "too uniformly blue", especially
when they are advertised as a
"silica" (not a turquoise) and mention the color to be a
"deeply saturated blue". Much of the
turquoise from China is wax impreganted. Chalky lower grade turquoise is
treated with a plastic resin
or epoxy under pressure. An artifical blue color is added over time.
Interstingly, untreated
turquoise will turn green over time, whereas turquoise that has been treated will
not. If a
stone has been treated, it may emit a plastic smell when heated. For more
information, go to
http://www.eaglerocktradingpost.com/turquoise.htm#50640043
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise
Ask where your turquoise comes from. Compare it with
the samples shown here to judge its authenticity.
 
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Touring Turquoise Country in The Southwest Is Fun
Tours of Mines:
$100 - Tonopah - Royston Turquoise Mine - with 2 week advanced notice. http://www.roystonturquoise.com/minetours.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Turquoise_with_quartz.jpg
Primary sources used for this web-page
are:
http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/Nevada_turq_mines/turquoise_mines_of_nevada.htm
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/mineinfo9.html
Mice spider-web images from many mines: http://www.redstreakdesigns.com/turquoise%20files/turquoise/turquoise.html
TURQUOISE SAMPLES FROM
THE MANY DIFFERENT MINES
Ackerman Canyon - 30 miles NE of Austin, Nevada.
Not producing now. Stones from here
range from light blue to a translucent emerald greed. Green variscite also was
produced here.
Ajax Turquoise Mine - South central
Nevada in the Royston area. New...Currently producing.
Colors vary. Some cabs show a light blue but a dark green with dark veins is more
common.
 http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
 
Austin - 12
miles South of Austin. Produced deep blue turquoise with a black matrix briefly
arounf 1970.
No pictures avaiable. If you have one, please send to
william_schmidt@hotmail.com
Apache Turquoise - Mine is near Tonopah and Austin Nevada. Only started producing two
years ago.
Variscite also is produced here.
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Bisbee Mine Distinctive deep blue and dark brown matrix. Near Bisbee, Arizona. This was
a part of the Bisbee copper mine. Copper miners would "high-grade" the
turquoise stones. They
would take the best turquoise and stock it into their pockets. Bisbee turquoise
developed a
reputation for being very hard, finely webbed, and having a naturally brilliant blue
stone. The
highest grade of Bisbee was found at less then 100 feet, however, at Lavender Pit, good
Bisbee
was discovered at 2,000 feet. Bisbee is one of the most expensive turquoises because of
its rarity,
hardness and lustrous blue. Phelps Dodge has declared Bisbee depleted and buried the
mine
under 50 feet of dirt to prevent people from hurting themselves in the dark mines.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisbee_Blue
http://www.indianvillage.com/arizonaturquoisemines.htm
See images at http://www.redstreakdesigns.com/turquoise%20files/turquoise/turquoise.html
  
 
 
$699 http://www.silversun-sf.com/custom/items/p236.htm
$165 http://www.twinrocks.com/products/5876-Navajo-Pentagon-Shaped-Bisbee-Turquoise-Ring-Eugene-Livingston.html
$225 http://www.twinrocks.com/products/5832-Navajo-Silver-Bisbee-Turquoise-Ring-Toby-Henderson.html
 $425
Set in Gold - $766
http://turquoisebuffalo.com/page/TBG/PROD/2BT/GJA22
http://www.skystonetrading.com/item.asp?ItemID=31498
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Candelaria Area,
Nevada - 50 miles west of Tonopah. These stones have an irregular, non-webbed, black
or brown matrix. The blue is duller and the matrix lacks
definition.. It is readily available now.
See http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
Some of them are extraordinarily fine. Look
at how deep blue the spider-webbed stone below is.
See spider web images at
http://www.redstreakdesigns.com/turquoise%20files/turquoise/turquoise.html
 
Potosi Gold-Silver Mine in Esmeralda County, NV.
See http://nevada-outback-gems.com/turquoise_cabs/cut_turquoise_Candelaria.htm
 $338
http://www.skystonetrading.com/item.asp?ItemID=31474
http://www.skystonetrading.com/item.asp?ItemID=31469
  
  
http://www.skystonetrading.com/items.asp?type=TradJewelry&orderby=New
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Carico Lake #6. Not
currently a producing mine. This mine is in Lander County, Nevada. The
bright, clear, iridescent green is fresh, Spring-like. This is due to its
zinc content. Carico is primarily a gold
producing mine, but individual turquoise miners may lease parts of it. There are
actually a number of important
turquoise mines in the Carico Lake area: Red Mountain, Blue Elephant, Nevada Blue
and Northern Lights.
The Aurora is the largest mine. When prices rose in the 1970s, large scale mining
was initiated and very
large quantities of turquoise was brought to the market.
For more details at http://nevada-outback-gems.com/Nevada_turq_mines/turquoise_mines_of_nevada.htm
See - http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
     
  
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Carico Lake mine
have not been producing any rough for a very long time. Gold settings bring out the
matrix's colors.
These stones have a distinctive green.
  
  
  
  bracelet sold for $680.
http://www.skystonetrading.com/items.asp?type=TradJewelry&orderby=New
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/nevadamines3.html
Castle Dome - Globe,
Arizona AKA - Pinto Valley. Rare. These came from a copper mine about
five miles west of Miami, Arizona. The copper mine was opened in 1943 and the
mine was closed in 1953.
Miners were allowed to dig for chunks that varied from a bluish-green to a sky blue
on their days off. Much
of this turquoise was treated. In the 1970s, this was the second biggest
producing turquoise mine in Arizona,
yielding 9,000 pounds a month.
  $279.00
on Ebay. |
Chinese Turquoise
Lots of it has come on market in recent years. As hard as any in
America, it takes a high polish.
  
Rough Chinese turquoise is
available by the pound for $600.00/Lb
(See http://www.cabbers.com/rough/turquiose/china_blue_turquoise.shtml
and
http://www.cabbers.com/rough/turquiose/chinese_turquoise_rough.shtml
)
  
  
      
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Fox #3
- The mining was discontinued in early 1970s. Naturally a sky blue, they often have
a spider web matrix.
Uncut raw turquoise from this mine sells for $250/Lb to $350/Lb.
The Fox turquoise mines are very productive. Different sites of Fox turquoise
deposits are named Fox, White Horse,
Green Tree and Smith have distinctive shades of blue and green turquoise. Much
of the blue Fox turquoise comes
from the White Horse mines.
See http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
http://www.cabbers.com/rough/turquiose/fox_turquoise_rough.shtml
 
 
When cut, backed and polished, it currently is on sale for about $20/Ct to $30/Ct
Most stones have between 5 and 12 carats.
See - http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/fox/fox_turquoise.shtml
        
 
   
 
 
  
 
 
Less expensive Fox
turquoise. $5/Ct.
http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/fox/fox_turquoise4.shtml
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Easter Blue
  
Hatchita
- Southwestern New Mexico.
The mine dates back to long before the arrival of
Europeans. Note the distinctive tan or golden brown matrix.
This contains oxidized pyrite. Production is very limited. But this
mine is still a source of larger stones.
 
 
See - http://www.theturquoisechick.com/specimens.htm
5.5 Ct. $6.90
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Kingman,
Arizona Area - Northwestern Arizona. One of the largest turquoise mines.
High quality "Kingman blue"
is an industry standard. The intensity of the its deepest blue stones is
striking. Ithaca Peak produced many of the best
specimens in the 1960s. The vein has long been exhausted. Closed
in 1972, the Kingman mine was re-opened in 2004.
"The new owners of the
copper mine have contracted to dump anything with turquoise veining or nuggets into trucks
for Marty Colbaugh Processing. About 95% of Kingman is stabilized which makes
it very affordable. Of that stabilized
stone, 50% is then shipped to China for cutting; the other half is sold in
the rough to American artists and those in the
turquoise trade. The remaining 5% of the Kingman turquoise stays in its
natural state. The Kingman mine currently
yields about 1600 pounds of rough stone per month with 2000 pounds being the
highest yield yet. Therefore, Silver
Sun has a ready supply of both natural Kingman and stabilized Kingman to use for
our jewelry.
(Source: http://www.silversun-sf.com/turquoise_info/ajax.htm
) The two stones
to the right just below are claimed to
be Kingman,
too. They are at variance with what I recognize to be Kingman.
 
Newer Kingman
readily available.
4.5 Ct. $7.50 http://www.theturquoisechick.com/specimens.htm
|
Kingman Arizona Area. Below
is new material from Ithaca Peak in Kingman. Note the matrix has
Pyrite and Quartz crystals. These mines have not produced much turquoise since the
1970s. I paid $200/Lb in 1974.
It is now $200/ounce.
http://www.indianvillage.com/kingmanturquoise.htm
See - http://www.cabbers.com/rough/turquiose/old_kingman_turquoise.shtml
Kingman - "Old Man Mine"
$10/Ct. This from a small mine on Gem Mountain. Very hard and blue with some green
"marbling"
http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/kingman/kingman2.shtml
The turquoise from this area in the 1960s usually had a black matrix.
 
http://www.indianvillage.com/arizonaturquoisemines.htm
The Kingman mine from a distance. |
| |
Landers County Blue.
Very rare and sought after. The original pocket, there was not more than a
100 pounds of rough found. From the private collection of Marvin Symes, one of the
three original owners of this mine.
$100/Ct See - http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/landers_turquoise.shtml
A blackjack dealer, Rita Hapgood,
who was picnicking at Indian Creek, discovered Lander Blue. It proved to be a
"hat mine", meaning that one could
put a hat over the deposit. She claimed the mine as the Mary Louise Lode
Mining Claim and later sold the claim
to Marvin Syme and Henry Dorian. They founded the Lander Blue Turquoise Corporation and
they worked the
deposit until its depletion. Lander Blue comes from a mine located between Battle Mountain
and Tenabo in northern
Nevada. Note its dark to light blue color and tightly laced black, spider web
matrix. It is stunning. Because of its
beauty and very limited availability, due to closure of the mine, Lander Blue is a highly
collectible turquoise worthy
of investment. Lander Blue turquoise is very probably the most famous and expensive
of the American turquoises.
See more spider web images at
http://www.redstreakdesigns.com/turquoise%20files/turquoise/turquoise.html
  
http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/landers_turquoise.shtml
 
http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/landers_turquoise.shtml
  
http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/landers_turquoise.shtml
 
 
Lander's County #5 http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/landers_turquoise.shtml
New Lander turquoise is being mined near the
Lander Blue Mine but has a green to yellow-green color, often with a
beautiful dark spiderweb matrix. ( http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
)
|
Morenci, Arizona
Quite common in the early 1970s when I made jewelry in Santa Fe. The stones are easily
matched for larger pieces. Shadow boxing brought out the dark silver-like matrix.
The best Morenci were distinctively deep blue and had a black iron-pyrite matrix that when
polished had a silver luster.
This made its appeal for settings in silver jewelry that much more fashionable. The
sample below is from the Metcalf Pit
in the Telegraph Hill area, 4500-4550 foot level and being hand dug. There is very
little being mined now. All in all,
it is very hard and offers the beholder a lovely natural blue.
For more information, see http://www.twinrocks.com/products/3905-Navajo-Silver-Morenci-Turquoise-Ring-Leo-Francis.html
 
http://www.cabbers.com/rough/turquiose/morenci_turquoise.shtml
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/morenci.html
See also http://www.redstreakdesigns.com/turquoise%20files/turquoise/turquoise.html
 $90.00 
http://www.twinrocks.com/products/3905-Navajo-Silver-Morenci-Turquoise-Ring-Leo-Francis.html
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/morenci.html
$6.00/Ct. compared to $.35/Ct. in 1994.
  
http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
http://turquoisebuffalo.com/page/TBG/PROD/2MT/SRA50
See also http://www.theturquoisechick.com/specimens.htm
http://www.silversun-sf.com/custom/items/e147.htm
http://www.silversun-sf.com/custom/items/b161.htm
$226 http://www.silversun-sf.com/custom/items/p208.htm
Pilot Mountain,
Western Nevada, near Mina. It was opened as a copper claim in 1930. Then it
became an open it mine in 1970. This produces only about 150-200 lbs. per
year. Pilot Mountain
turquoise forms in thin
seams, with some nugget formations. According to the current owner, the turquoise that has
formed in thin seams is high
grade with better, deeper blue-green colors. Most Pilot Mountain turquoise is called
“grass roots,” meaning the best
deposits are found within ten feet of the surface.Pilot Mountain turquoise is highly
admired for its deep blue-green color
variations. This stone also has very interesting matrix patterns, which range
from red to brown to black, most notably a
rich tobacco brown. Some of the matrix in high grade Pilot
Mountain is beautiful spider web. Pilot Mountain turquoise is
a hard stone that takes a good polish. Because of this hardness, this stone does not
change colors with prolonged exposure
to skin oils, etc. Pilot Mountain
has nine federal mining claims operating where small miners conduct their mining two to
three times a year with very minimal tools - a back hoe and pick. This beautiful,
high-grade stone looks like Royston, but
is priced at half the cost. (See
http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
http://www.silversun-sf.com/turquoise_info/ajax.htm
)
  $278
http://www.skystonetrading.com/items.asp?type=TradJewelry&orderby=New
  $1.60/Ct.
http://www.skystonetrading.com/item.asp?ItemID=31527
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/pilotmnt.html
 
 Offered on EBAY for $100.00
  |
Royston, Nevada Royston Mine. 24 miles
north of Tonapah. Also known as Royal Blue.
There were four turquoise claims: Bunker Hill, Easter Blue (see above), Oscar
Wehrend and Royal Blue.
These tunnel mines were first discovered in 1902. They were one of the most
productive turquoise mines.
The host rock, rhyolite, gives Royston its often gold-colored matrix. Some
reports say these mines are
lardely exhausted. ( http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
) The colors vary from emerald green
to blue in the same rock From a silver mine. (See http://www.roystonturquoise.com/ )
 
http://www.roystonturquoise.com/Roughturquoisepics/roughroyston007f.jpg
 
 
http://www.roystonturquoise.com/Roughturquoisepics/roughroyston015f.jpg
$200 to $400/Pound
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/royston.html
$699 - http://www.silversun-sf.com/custom/items/b122.htm
 
http://www.roystonturquoise.com/cabochons.htm
http://www.skystonetrading.com/item.asp?ItemID=31486
Offered
on EBAY.
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|
Sleeping Beauty -
Seven miles from Globe, Arizona A distinctive sky blue. A solid blue
without matrix. Zuni Pueblo silversmiths especially use this for inlay jewelry.
"This mine is one of the
largest in North America. Monty Nichols, owner and miner of the Sleeping Beauty mine, says
that the mine is
producing well, about 1600 pounds a month. Of that, only 4% is natural. Most of the
turquoise from the mine,
80-90%, is altered in some way. Most of that percentage is enhanced, which is more
expensive than stabilization,
and sold to large distributors in this country and Europe. Now, most of the turquoise that
comes out of that mine
comes form the tons of tailings piles that have been accumulating all these years."
( http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
)
 
See - http://www.sbturquoise.com/
 
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/turqroughmix3.html
 
See - http://www.theturquoisechick.com/specimens.htm
 
  
Commonly used in classic jewelry, where roundness and absence of matrixes are
valued.
See - http://turquoise.facetroughgemstones.com/
|
Shoshone Indan Mountain -
See Indian Mountain.
The lode was discovered in 1970 by a Shoshone sheepherder
who stumbled upon a vein of turquoise on a hillside
while tending his sheep. Eddy Mauzy and his family subsequently mined and marketed
turquoise from this site to top
Southwest Indian artisans, and jewelry featuring unique turquoise Mountain was first
featured prominently in Arizona
Highways magazine in the late 1970's.
http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
|
Stormy Mountain Mined in 70s. The backing used
has ground up pyrite. This was a common practice at the time
to increase the weight of each stone before it was sold.
Source: http://www.cabbers.com/cabs/turquoise/stormy_mountain_turquoise.shtml
|
Tonopah
See http://www.stonesnsilver.com/product/BST423/TonopahTurquoiseNVGraduatingPotatoNuggets16inStr.aspx
Turquoise Mountain
"n the 1960's, there were two peaks about ¼ miles apart
located near the Kingman mountain, which yielded fine turquoise: Ithaca Peak (see Kingman)
and Turquoise Mountain Peak. Turquoise Mountain is light to high blue with both webbed and
non-webbed matrix. Birdseye describes stones from this mine that show areas of light blue
circled with darker blue matrix, resembling the eye of a bird. Even though this peak is
part of the Kingman Mountain, it is considered a classic mine in its own right because the
turquoise is so different in appearance. This stone exhibits a beautiful range of color
from pale blue to lime green in one piece that makes it a sought-after turquoise. This
mine was closed in the 1980's." ( http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
)
http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
|
|
Tyrone, New Mexico -
rare Intense blue. Rusty brown matrix. Phelps Dodge near Silver City, NM
controlled this area. "A discovery in
1893, the 'Elizabeth Pocket', proved to be the richest pocket ever in New Mexico.
All rock from this area north of Tyrone was shipped to Europe for $100 to $150 a carat
weight at retail. It was a very
pure blue with small quartz crystals. However, turquoise has not been retrieved from that
mining operation since the
early 1980's when Phelps Dodge changed its method of copper ore processing to crushing and
acid wash. That method
destroys any turquoise in the copper ore.The Tyrone turquoise in new jewelry is from
private stashes. It is medium brilliant
blue in its high grade form. Tyrone turquoise is part of the mineral band that starts east
of Silver City and curves around
through Arizona and the Morenci turquoise mine area into Mexico. Today it is valued for
both its beauty and rarity."
(Source: http://www.e-pueblo.com/products/turquoise.shtml
)
See images at http://www.redstreakdesigns.com/turquoise%20files/turquoise/turquoise.html
.
 |
White Horse
http://www.nevadagem.com/pages/categorypages/nevadamines3.html
|
| |
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Unknown Mines
 $723.
 $625.
http://www.sedonaindianjewelry.com/Jewelry/BTsosie3.htm
Bought in Tonopah pawn shop. Offered on EBAY, Starting bid $175,
 
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TigerSoft
News Service 4/1/2008 www.tigersoft.com 
32.5 Ct, Blue Gem Turquoise
with gold matrix. Set in Gold.
$88.
$600.
$190
$198
$250 
$226
$667
$2.50/Ct 
$60. Ebay. 
Ring from 1930s. $165 . 
$97 - 
$798
$425.
$405. 
$220 
From 1970s. 
EBAY $115.
EBAY $65
This is quite nice. Click on link to see it
better.
$175
$523 - very old. 
$4.00/Ct.
$1,350 - sold
$385
I doubt if the
stone's matrix naturally contains gold. 
EBAY $125. 
$133.
$4,260 
$4.00/Ct/
$3.00/Ct'
$4.00/Ct 
Nepalese turquoise on EBAY.
