Types Of Turquoise

This high quality Apache Blue turquoise is very rare and hard to find even in this mine, but it's what every turquoise miner is searching for. This turquoise is truly some of the nicest from Nevada.

Bisbee turquoise has developed a reputation as a hard, finely webbed or dendrite, high-blue stone, known for its "chocolate brown" matrix. Bisbee turquoise also comes in a beautiful dark green color. Because most of this turquoise has already been mined and what is left is in limbo due to circumstances with the copper mining in the open pit, it is one of the most highly collected stones.

Most jewelry being made with this stone today is made via the orders of the current owners of the mine. The rest, such as ours which is all hand cut and mounted by Durango Silver Co., is found through old "stashes" or collections that have been obtained.

The stones this mine produces, usually large pieces in plate form, look a great deal like Stormy Mountain Turquoise because of its black smoky matrix. This stone features dark stormy matrix surrounded by a brilliant blue. The characteristic black chert is present.

Long time miners have noted the Blue Diamond mine yielded some of the best turquoise in Nevada.

Today, Blue Diamond turquoise is very rare and seldom seen. Mining operations have been closed for many years.

Boulder Turquoise is identified by the distinctive turquoise veins that run through the boulder stones. It's sometimes called Ribbon Turquoise because the turquoise forms a "ribbon" that arcs through rich brown boulder stones.

The uniqueness of the turquoise patterns mapping through beautiful and varied brown boulder stones gives Boulder Turquoise jewelry its own distinctive flair.

Boulder Turquoise is valued for both its beauty and rarity. Every stone is unique.

It is currently closed, with no mining activity, and is therefore considered rare and collectible. The turquoise in this area was usually found in thin veins and is known for its beautiful, almost electric blue, sometimes with light matrix.

This mine produces some of the most unusual and beautiful stone patterns. No two stones are ever alike.

Dry Creek turquoise is not treated or color enhanced and is revered for its light whitish blue turquoise color. Most turquoise this light of a blue is chalk and too soft to cut. That is one of the reasons Dry Creek Turquoise is so valuable.

Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. Blue turquoise forms when there is a higher concentration of copper, which is the case with most Arizona turquoise. Green turquoise forms where there is a higher concentration of iron, which is the case with most Nevada turquoise. Dry Creek forms where few heavy metals are present, a rare occurrence and the reason for the light whitish blue color.

To date, no other vein of this turquoise has been discovered anywhere else, and when this current vein runs out, that will be the last of it. Because Dry Creek Turquoise is as rare as the sacred buffalo, many Native Americans refer to this turquoise as "Sacred Buffalo."

This mine is a major producer of Nevada Turquoise. Easter Blue produces a fine quality stone and beautiful matrix. The Easter Blue mine is owned and operated by Danny and Dean Otteson.

The area produces a huge amount of good quality blue, green, or blue-green stone with a distinctive matrix. Most of this turquoise that we have cut has been a light to medium blue with a dark color of green or blue spiderweb.

It has become a color standard in the industry. The mine became famous for its rounded, bright blue nuggets with black matrix. Few turquoise mines produced nuggets, especially of this quality.

Old natural Kingman Turquoise is rare. The Colbaughs own this mine and the Turquoise Mountain mine; their company name is Colbaugh Processing. They have recently gone back into the section of the Kingman mine and are digging out new natural Kingman Turquoise.

It has become a color standard in the industry. The mine became famous for its rounded, bright blue nuggets with a spider web black matrix.

In the Cerbat Mountains, 14 miles northwest of the city of Kingman, Arizona, the Mineral Park Mine was first mined by Indians centuries before the white man came to the area. It is one of three prehistoric mining localities in the state of Arizona. The Kingman Turquoise mines have been owned and operated by the Colbaugh family since the early 1900s.

The mine is located in Manassa, Colorado. The site was originally mined by ancestral Pueblo people and was rediscovered in 1890 by gold prospector King.

The King's mine produces some of the best blue-green turquoise on the market today. The Kings Manassa Turquoise is best known for its rich, brilliant green and gold matrix.

The mine was closed for a number of years and had not been worked. Recently, the mine changed hands again and they have begun to work the claim.

The Kings Manassa mine is now producing what geologists and collectors have stated is the Rolls Royce of turquoise.

The Number 8 Turquoise mine in Eureka County, north of Carlin, Nevada, was discovered in 1925 and first mined in 1929.

The mine was closed as a result of the discovery of gold in 1976 when the Newton Gold Company claimed the area. In its prime, the Number 8 mine produced some of the largest nuggets of turquoise ever found. Cleaned and polished, one weighed 150 pounds.

The turquoise is a collector's item, as this is some of the last Number 8 Turquoise to be had and will be a great addition to our collection.

Pilot Mountain turquoise forms in hard veins with color ranging from bright blue to dark blue with a greenish cast. Dark brown limonite mottled patterns are associated with this material. Most Pilot Mountain turquoise is called "grass roots," meaning the best deposits are found within ten feet of the surface.

Royston turquoise is known for its beautiful deep green and rich light blue colors. These unique color ranges are what make the stone so special. Royston stones are often two-tone, displaying both dark and light green and sometimes blue. Royston has a heavy matrix ranging from brown to gold in color.

This matrix makes for beautiful combinations with the color variations of the Royston Turquoise stone.

This is a visually exquisite stone with colors ranging from a clear light blue to a deep, vibrant green. The matrix includes brown, gold, and black. The variety of possible color and matrix mixes is stunning.

The stone got its name because the mountain where it is mined resembles a sleeping woman laying on her back with her arms crossed.

Sleeping Beauty turquoise is revered and highly sought after due to its pure sky blue color, which can also be found with dark black "spider webbing" matrix. It is still being collected from the Sleeping Beauty mine in Globe, Arizona, where a small operation of workers mines, processes, and ships the stones.

The famous Sleeping Beauty turquoise was actually discovered by accident. The mine was opened to pull copper and gold, and it wasn't until relatively recently that the first turquoise stones were discovered. Even in rough form, the stones are vibrant, even more blue than the bright Southwestern sky overhead.

This mine has been in production since the 1980s. Campitos turquoise, including Sonora Turquoise, is unique in many ways. The most impressive is the way it is mined. Most turquoise is mined from veins found in the surrounding stone. Turquoise from the Campitos mountain is often found in clay deposits as nuggets. Sonora Turquoise tends to have a brilliant green color with a matrix of brown and traces of pyrite that add a special sparkle to the stones.

Turquoise Mountain turquoise 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 dark blue matrix, resembling the eye of a bird.

White Buffalo is formed from the minerals Calcite and Iron. White Buffalo is only found in one mine near Tonopah, Nevada. It is mined by Danny and Dean Otteson, who classify White Buffalo as a turquoise because it is a similar hard stone to turquoise; the only difference being that it lacks copper. It is questioned at times by definition because turquoise contains copper aluminum phosphate, which is what gives turquoise its blue color. White Buffalo has no copper and no blue color. Otteson notes that, like turquoise, it lies in veins surrounded by black chert. "Until someone can prove differently, we're going to call it white turquoise from the White Buffalo mine," Otteson says.

This will continue to be debated for coming ages but, in the end, it is a beautifully bold stone that makes a statement in its black and white colors and so rare to be only found in one area in the world.

Each piece is meticulously fabricated. The predominant colors and stones used in traditional Zuni inlay are turquoise, red coral, black onyx, and white mother of pearl. Symbolically, the red represents Mother Earth and turquoise, Father Sky. The black and white of the other stones is a further representation of dualities. Other stones that may be used in Zuni jewelry are Gaspeite and orange to purple Spiny Oyster.

The pueblo of Zuni Native American Indians is located in western New Mexico (south of Gallup) near the Arizona border. Jewelry making is the major craft industry of the village. Like other Pueblo peoples, Zuni Indian artisans possess a true talent for lapidary work.

There is only one location it is found in the world. It is located in the Murnu Mountains near Yakutia, Russia. What makes this stone interesting is its full range of character from solid color to zones of swirly mixtures of silky purple chatoyance and sprays of black.

Charoite is said to be "The stone of the Spirit." Wearing Charoite is believed to enhance self-esteem, accelerate spiritual growth, and soothe emotion, giving security. Charoite changes loneliness to love and warms the heart, showing you the way through your fears and finding peace.

Typically found along the coasts of North Carolina all the way down to the waters near Brazil, also in the Sea of Cortez, and off the coast of Baja Mexico and Baja California. The shells of the Spiny Oyster are rare finds and are especially treasured by Native American Indian artists for their beautiful red, pink, brown, yellow, orange, purple, and white colors. Many Zuni artists started creating with Spiny Oyster when coral was endangered and unable to be mined.

Orange Spiny Oyster can range in color from yellow to orange to red. This orange Spiny Oyster is the more common variety, found at mid to low ocean depths so snorkelers and scuba divers can easily get to it.

Purple Spiny Oyster, also known as "deep purple" Spiny Oyster, is much harder to harvest because of the ocean depth in which it is found. This makes purple Spiny Oyster more rare and often harder to find.