Know Your Turquoise
Did you know that there are over 30 types of turquoise? Turquoise, one of the oldest gemstones known to man, is cherished for its vibrant blue to green hues, a result of copper and iron within its mineral composition. This stone has been revered across various cultures for millennia, symbolizing protection, wisdom, and good fortune. Turquoise is found in arid regions worldwide, often in small veins within decomposed volcanic rock. Notable deposits include: the United States, Iran, Egypt, and China. Deposits are also found in Mexico, Afghanistan, Australia, Chile, and Tibet. Today, turquoise is still a popular gemstone, especially in Southwestern and Native American jewelry.
Kingman Turquoise
Kingman turquoise is found at the Mineral Park Mining District near Kingman, Arizona. It is one of the oldest turquoise mines in the US, originally mined by Indigenous peoples and commercially developed in the 1880s. Kingman turquoise is known for its vibrant colors, ranging from sky blue to a deep greenish blue. This turquoise often has a lot of matrixing, including the popular spiderweb patterns.
Sleeping Beauty Turquoise
Sleeping Beauty turquoise is found at the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, Arizona. This mine was discovered in the early 1900s and closed in 2012, increasing the value of existing stones. Sleeping Beauty turquoise is well-known for its bright blue color and minimal to no matrixing throughout the stones. It is considered one of the most "perfect" looking turquoise stones due to the lack of matrixing.
Royston Turquoise
Royston turquoise is found in the Royston Hills Mining District near Tonopah, Nevada. Royston turquoise is found in multiple mines in the mining district, including Bunker Hill, Oscar Wehrend, and Royal Blue. This type of turquoise is still being mined; however, it is by small-scale miners and families, so the quantities are limited. The colors range from deep green to vivid blue, often in the same stone, and feature bold matrixing throughout the stones.
Bisbee Turquoise
Bisbee turquoise is found in the Lavender Pit, a copper mine in Bisbee, Arizona. Turquoise was discovered here in the 1950s as a byproduct of copper mining. The Lavender Pit closed in the 1970s, and no new Bisbee turquoise has been commercially mined since, making it very rare. Bisbee turquoise is deep blue in color with occasional green tones and smoky chocolate brown to red matrixing.
Hubei Turquoise
Hubei turquoise is mined in the Hubei Province in the Yunxi, Zhushan, and Shiyan regions of China. Hubei turquoise has been mined for over 2,000 years, dating back to ancient Chinese dynasties, and is still being mined today. The colors range from light blue to green, to yellow, and often feature dark spiderweb matrixing, and other dramatic matrixing patterns.
Number 8 Turquoise
Number 8 turquoise can be found in the Number 8 Mine in Carlin, Nevada. It was discovered in 1925 and mined actively until the closure of the mine in the 1970s. Number 8 turquoise is no longer being produced, making it increasingly rare and collectible. The colors range from light blue to greenish-blue with golden to reddish-brown matrixing.
Sonoran Gold Turquoise
Sonoran Gold turquoise is found in the Campitos Mine in Sonora, Mexico. This turquoise entered the global market in the 2010s, making it one of the newer and trendier types of turquoise. Sonoran Gold is known for its vivid green colors ranging from lime to minty to aqua, sometimes all in one stone. The matrixing can vary from golden brown, tan, to none at all.
Pink Conch Shell
The pink conch shell is the shell of the Queen Conch, a large marine snail. The Queen Conch is found in warm, shallow waters of the Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Mexico. The colors range from pale blush to deep pink, sometimes with peach or cream tones. The Queen Conch is CITES protected, and international trade is heavily monitored to prevent overharvesting of the wild populations.
Spiny Oyster
Spiny oyster is the shell from a bivalve mollusk, commonly found in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. The colors naturally occur in vivid orange, deep red, purple, pink, and occasionally white or yellow. The interior of the shell is cut and used for jewelry since the exterior is spiky. Spiny oyster shells are wild-harvested by free divers or collected as a byproduct of seafood harvesting, and the species is not considered endangered.
White Buffalo
White Buffalo is found in the Dry Creek Mine in Tonopah, Nevada. It was discovered in the 1990s, making it a modern discovery in the world of western gemstones. White Buffalo is commonly called turquoise, but it is not. It is a combination of white calcite, dolomite, and quartz, but lacks the copper content that gives turquoise its color - so it is chemically and geologically different! White Buffalo is white to cream in color with black, gray, or brown matrixing.
Jade
There are two different minerals called jade: jadeite, the rarer, more valuable form, and nephrite, the more common form, historically used in China and by Indigenous peoples. Jadeite is mined mainly in Burma but also found in Guatemala and Japan. Nephrite is found in China, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, and the US. Jade comes in a variety of colors, not just green! Some of these other colors include lavender, white, gray, black, yellow, orange, pink, blue, and brown.
Variscite
Variscite is a phosphate mineral commonly found in Utah, Nevada, Germany, Australia, and Brazil. The colors of variscite are various shades of green, from a soft mint to deep emerald and apple green. The matrixing is often a dark brown or black spiderwebbing, especially in the US mined material.
Wild Horse
Wild horse is a natural stone made up of white magnesite and brown hematite. Like white buffalo, wild horse is not a turquoise, although commonly called turquoise, since it is a magnesium-based stone. It was first discovered in the 1990s in the Arizona desert near the Globe Copper Mine which is still the only known source for this stone. Wild horse is a mix of creamy white and reddish-brown to chocolate brown veining.