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Zuni Petit Point Jewelry
Zuni Petit Point Jewelry
Zuni Native American jewelry is some of the most famous Native American jewelry worldwide. Zuni Petit Point jewelry or Zuni Petite Point Jewelry is some of the jewelry that made the Zuni Indians famous jewelers. Zuni Indians are known for their intricate work and attention to detail, Zuni Petit Point Jewelry is definately a good example of this.
Indians in the Southwest who are especially known for their jewelry are the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo peoples. The Zuni are known for their very intricate stonework and almost never do plain silver jewelry. The most traditional Zuni style of jewelry is called petit point, which can be identified by tiny turquoise stones each supported in its own bezel, or metal “sleeve.” It is extremely time-consuming work and is very delicate in appearance. The Zunis are known for using sterling silver and natural turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty Mine. The work is priced by the amount of handiwork, not the weight of the silver or the value of the turquoise.
Antique Zuni Petit Point Jewelry
Zuni Petit point Jewelry began around 1920-1930 and was a unique form of Turquoise Jewelry created by the Zuni Indians. A Petit Point stone is a tiny round, oval, rectangle, pear or square shaped stone hand cut by a Zuni Indian Lapidarist. Zuni Petit Point Jewelry is unique to the Zuni Indian Artisans and not made anywhere else in the world. It is special Jewelry that is impressive wearable art. The Zuni’s make Petit Point Rings, Earrings, Bracelets, Pendants, Necklace Sets and more.
Modern Zuni Petit Point Jewelry
The Zuni Indian reservation is along the western of New Mexico near the border of Arizona . The Zuni Indians and their ancestors have been making jewelry for over 1,000 years. The first Zuni Indian to learn to work with silver was Lanyade around 1872 learning from the Navajo. Many of the designs of Zuni Indian jewelry have not changed over the years. Zuni Indians are known for their intricate stone cutting: petit point, needle point, inlay and detailed stone carvings known as fetishes.
Needle point –Turquoise cut in long narrow or elongated stones set in delicate bezels is called needle point. Turquoise jewelry with pear shape cut gems is known as petite point. Gems that have been cut and tightly set and inlaid into silver jewelry is known as “inlay”. This is a skill of intricate small stonework especially with pieces with smaller tightly fitting gems and settings.
Petit point – Turquoise or small stones are cut into egg-shape, oval or pear-shape gems set clusters or rows with stones and settings symmetrical.
Inlay – this technique predates European arrival and is small stones or shell cut and set into channels of silver or mosaic inlaid together and set into jewelry. The inlay can be flat, raised, etched or sculpted.
Today Zuni Needle Point or Zuni Petit Point Jewelry is still very popular and Zuni Petit Point Jewelry really hasn’t changed much. Over the years the other styles of Zuni Jewelry has changed a lot, however Zuni Petit Point Jewelry has stayed classic and true to it’s self.
Thank you for reading our brief Turquoise News about Zuni Petit Point Jewelry.
How To Care For Turquoise Jewelry
How To Care For Turquoise Jewelry
Turquoise is a pretty and captivating gemstone which looks adorable when worn as jewelry. The grace and subtle appeal of Turquoise is beyond any comparison. Turquoise Jewelry has a mass appeal for many reasons including the fact that it reminds people of the sky and water. Turquoise jewelry in sterling silver looks great when paired up with any style of dress. So, taking proper care of such a magnificent stone is actually important and it is easy to learn how to care for Turquoise Jewelry. If you have your jewelry box accented with this world class gemstone, Turquoise, you need to learn how to care for Turquoise jewelry in order to keep it looking new and shiny forever. Some say Turquoise is soft, porous stone and it requires soft handling. This is not entirely true. Turquoise is soft according to the mohs scale, however, it is very sturdy and easy to care for if it is high grade Turquoise or if it is stabilized Turquoise. It is not prone to scratches unless you are extremely hard on it. Cleaning sterling silver jewelry made up with Turquoise is simple and you can do it at home.
The first thing you need learn when thinking about how to care for Turquoise jewelry or any other piece of jewelry for that matter is that THE BETTER YOU TAKE CARE OF IT, the less you have to worry about how to care for Turquoise Jewelry or other jewelry. In other words, treat it like it is something special and valuable, do not treat it like a cheap pair of socks or a throw away plastic bag. When you are thinking of how to care for Turquoise jewelry the first thing to think of is what not to do. First do not wear your Turquoise Jewelry or any other jewelry you value when you are participating in extreme sports, sitting in the hot tube or pool, exercising, or participating in hard manual labor. Keeping this in mind you can then move on to how to care for Turquoise Jewelry.
How to care for Turquoise Jewelry – Storage
How to care for Turquoise Jewelry best when it is not being worn is easy. Always store your Turquoise Jewelry in a Ziplock style plastic bag. By keeping your Turquoise Jewelry or silver jewelry in seperate plastic bags when you are not wearing it, you will keep it from being scratched and from tarnishing. We have also been told that you can keep you Turquoise Jewelry or Silver Jewelry in a sealed porceline container to keep it from tarnishing. Make sure you share this tip on how to care for Turquoise Jewelry with your friends and family.
How to care for Turquoise Jewelry – How to Clean Turquoise Jewelry
Depending on how you like your Turquoise Jewelry to look will determine how to care for Turquoise Jewelry when it comes to cleaning and tarnishing. Some folks like their Turquoise Jewelry and Silver Jewelry to look vintage and to have a dark patina to it, some like it to have a medium or sort of brushed look, some like it extremely shiny. If you like your Turquoise Jewelry to look vintage and have a dark or tarnished appearance, then you do not need to much about how to care for Turquoise Jewelry, you just need to wear and enjoy. If you like your Turquoise jewelry to have a medium tarnish or brushed look you just need to know a simple trick to how to care for Turquoise you own. You need to buy 0000 grade steal wool and when you jewelry gets too dark just rub it down with the steal wool until it is back where you like it. If you like you silver jewelry or Turquoise jewelry shiny, then you need to be very careful to pay attention to how to care for Turquoise jewelry you own. You will need to rub down you jewelry with a jewelers cloth everytime you wear it, before you put it in ziplock bags to store it. Never use silver dips to clean you Turquoise jewelry.
We hope this has helped you with the basics of how to care for Turquoise Jewelry.
Turquoise
Turquoise
Turquoise is the #1 specialty of Durango Silver Company, we have been in the this business for over 40 years and we are the leading authorities of American Turquoise in the United States. We have been collecting, mining and cutting Turquoise since the 1960′s and have several of our own mines in Nevada. In addition, we have collected authentic turquoise from around the world and have identified the qlobal qualities of this material. Durango Silver Company deals in authentic turquoise and is one of the most trusted authorities for quality authentic Turquoise Jewelry in the world!
Turquoise Jewelry
Durango Silver Company has produced Silver Jewelry with Turquoise Gemstones for nearly 40 years and Silver Jewelry is how we market our quality gemstones. Our company is one of the few producers of Silver Jewelry that gaurantee the turquoise gemstones in our Jewelry to be 100% authentic and actually real . There has been so many enhancements and treatments done to this stone in the past few years, most manufactures do not know or care about its authenticity as they are only in the business for the money – this fact is not true with our company as our first priority is the quality and authenticity of the turquoise we use in our Jewelry.
American Turquoise
American Turquoise is predominately found in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. The bulk of is found in Arizona and Nevada. Arizona predominately produces Blue, Nevada predominately produces green and material of both blue and green can be found in all four states.
Most turquoise mines produce about 10 -20% high grade quality material and the balance in a soft chaulky material that in useless in the Silver Jewelry market unless it is stablized or enhanced to make the material hard enough to use and in many cases it is color enhanced to make it attractive for the fashion market. High quality natural Turquoise is rare and not affordable to the majority of Turquoise Jewelry producers so they use the stablized or enhanced material for monitary reasons.
Arizona Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from Arizona.
Nevada Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from Nevada.
Colorado Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from Colorado.
New Mexico Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from New Mexico.
High Grade Natural American Turquoise
Natural American Turquoise of high quality that is beautiful is actually very rare! We have cut natural turquoise for over forty years now and the truth is that out of 20 stones that we cut our company will only use about one of the 20 in our jewelry, however, we are known for having the finest turquoise gemstones in our jewelry throughout the world by the leading collectors and authorities.
We have a tremendous amount of information on this subject at durangosilver.com and have created many educational pages for your information and enjoyment. This is a very intreging subject to many as this gemstone was one of the first gemstones found by mankind over 7,500 years ago which is well before biblical times. It has been worshiped by healers and entire civilizations such as Tibet for literally thousands of years and it has been used and worn by some of the most notible historic figures of the world in the past. This importantant gemstone has been known for its spiritual and metaphysical powers for thousands of years by kings, pharoah’s and important leaders of people nearly since the beginning of civilized mankind. It is known to have powers that offer health, happiness and good fortune to the bearers of it. We have have a lot of great information on the history as well as the spritual values of this great gemstone that can be found in our Learning Center as well as the sitemap for our website.
Read what Wikipedia has on this subject at turquoise
Anasazi Turquoise
Anasazi Turquoise
The Anasazi had trade routes that spanned the western part of North and Mesoamerica. They traded ancient or Anasazi Turquoise for Parrots, Seashells and other trade items brought from Mexico and California by nomadic trade groups. The Anasazi had Turquoise and copper mines that gave them valuable goods for trade. Archaeologists have found Anasazi Turquoise and copper in Mexico Ruins as well as Parrot Feathers and Seashells from the Gulf of Mexico have been found in the Anasazi Ruins. The Anasazi Turquoise was traded throughout the Americas. Most of this Anasazi Turquoise was mined from the Cerrillos mines in New Mexico, Villa Grove mine in Colorado, Kingman mines in Arizona, and the Turquoise mines around Tonopah, Nevada such as the Royston Turquoise mine. Turquoise history also shows Anasazi Turquoise from many other American Turquoise mines.
How Anasazi Turquoise Began
The Anasazi culture began in the Southwest in approximately 350 B.C. and it lasted until about 1450 A.D. Anasazi people began hunting for and mining Anasazi Turquoise as early as 200 B.C. Anasazi Indians themselves worshiped Turquoise and believed it had great powers for the human that were sent to this earth by the fathers of creation. Turquoise had a major roll in all ceremonies and prayer. Anasazi Medicine Men as well as healers throughout Mesoamerica thrived on Turquoise and made every atempt possible to obtain as much of the gem as posible as it had great powers for their people.
Anasazi Indians themselves worshiped Turquoise and believed it had great powers for the human that were sent to this earth by the fathers of creation. Turquoise had a major roll in all ceremonies and prayer. Anasazi Medicine Men as well as healers throughout Mesoamerica thrived on Turquoise and made every atempt possible to obtain as much of the gem as posible as it had great powers for their people. Anasazi Indians believed Turquoise had great healing powers as well as bringing good health, happiness and fortune to the bearer of the gem. Most all ancient tombs of individuals of power, Medicine Men, healers and believers in the Mesoamerican period, that have been uncovered, have had amulets of Turquoise in them. There is absolutely no question, Turquoise was used for its Spiritual and Metaphysical powers by the Anasazi Indians as well as in many other cultures throughout Mesoamerica and the world. The Anasazi worshipped Turquoise much like the culture of the Tibetans. Tibetan Turquoise was first known world wide in through the ancient Tibetan Turquoise beads.
Thanks for learning a bit about Anasazi Turquoise
We invite you to view our complete presentation on Anasazi Turquoise!
Turquoise
Turquoise
Turquoise is the #1 specialty of Durango Silver Company, we have been in the this business for over 40 years and we are the leading authorities of American Turquoise in the United States. We have been collecting, mining and cutting Turquoise since the 1960’s and have several of our own mines in Nevada. In addition, we have collected authentic turquoise from around the world and have identified the qlobal qualities of this material. Durango Silver Company deals in authentic turquoise and is one of the most trusted authorities for quality authentic Turquoise Jewelry in the world!
Turquoise Jewelry
Durango Silver Company has produced Silver Jewelry with Turquoise Gemstones for nearly 40 years and Silver Jewelry is how we market our quality gemstones. Our company is one of the few producers of Silver Jewelry that gaurantee the turquoise gemstones in our Jewelry to be 100% authentic and actually real . There has been so many enhancements and treatments done to this stone in the past few years, most manufactures do not know or care about its authenticity as they are only in the business for the money – this fact is not true with our company as our first priority is the quality and authenticity of the turquoise we use in our Jewelry.
American Turquoise
American Turquoise is predominately found in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. The bulk of is found in Arizona and Nevada. Arizona predominately produces Blue, Nevada predominately produces green and material of both blue and green can be found in all four states.
Most turquoise mines produce about 10 -20% high grade quality material and the balance in a soft chaulky material that in useless in the Silver Jewelry market unless it is stablized or enhanced to make the material hard enough to use and in many cases it is color enhanced to make it attractive for the fashion market. High quality natural Turquoise is rare and not affordable to the majority of Turquoise Jewelry producers so they use the stablized or enhanced material for monitary reasons.
Arizona Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from Arizona.
Nevada Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from Nevada.
Colorado Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from Colorado.
New Mexico Turquoise – See our educational presentation on Turquoise from New Mexico.
High Grade Natural American Turquoise
Natural American Turquoise of high quality that is beautiful is actually very rare! We have cut natural turquoise for over forty years now and the truth is that out of 20 stones that we cut our company will only use about one of the 20 in our jewelry, however, we are known for having the finest turquoise gemstones in our jewelry throughout the world by the leading collectors and authorities.
We have a tremendous amount of information on this subject at durangosilver.com and have created many educational pages for your information and enjoyment. This is a very intreging subject to many as this gemstone was one of the first gemstones found by mankind over 7,500 years ago which is well before biblical times. It has been worshiped by healers and entire civilizations such as Tibet for literally thousands of years and it has been used and worn by some of the most notible historic figures of the world in the past. This importantant gemstone has been known for its spiritual and metaphysical powers for thousands of years by kings, pharoah’s and important leaders of people nearly since the beginning of civilized mankind. It is known to have powers that offer health, happiness and good fortune to the bearers of it. We have have a lot of great information on the history as well as the spritual values of this great gemstone that can be found in our Learning Center as well as the sitemap for our website.
Read what Wikipedia has on this subject at turquoise
New Natural Kingman Turquoise Find
New Kingman Turquoise Find
Spider Web Natural Kingman Turquoise Ring
The Colbaugh’s have found a new Kingman Turquoise find that is super high grade and consists of a few viens that produce both “birdseye” matix and a fine black spider web matrix Turquoise. This new Kingman Turquoise is a beautiful medium blue and is top grade natural cutting rough. The new find of high grade Kingman Turquoise was found with the help of Marty Colbaugh’s long time friend Monty who owns the Sleeping Beauty Turquoise mine in Globe, Arizona. Marty Colbaugh, Josh Colbaugh and Monty found these new viens together in early 2011. This new Kingman Turquoise is being sold in limited quantities and mainly being purchased by a select few high end jewelers. Most of the jewelry being made in 14k gold and gold and silver combination jewelry. Some highend sterling silver jewelry is being made with this high grade new Kingman Turquoise. Once you see this natural new Kingman Turquoise you will fall in love.
New Kingman Turquoise is Super High Grade!
The new Kingman Turquoise is some of the highest grade Turquoise that has ever come out of the Kingman Turquoise mine in Kingman, Arizona USA. This beatiful gemstone is a great example of American Turquoise. The new Kingman Turquoise is so high grade that when you hit the rough together it sounds like marbles clicking. The new Kingman Turquoise is very beautiful in the rough, actually it is a show stopper when seen in the rough, especially when most of the Turquoise seen at gemshows today is stabilized or super low grade. It is like a fresh breath of air to jewelers who know good gemstone.
New Kingman Turquoise Jewelry
You will start to see this new Kingman Turquoise showing up in jewelry today and more and more by the end of 2011. The jewelry that you will see the new Kingman Turquoise set in will be top grade, it will be silver jewelry and gold jewelry that every jewelers is proud of. When most jewelers find gemstone this wonderful, they are very careful to only put it in the best jewelry possible. You will see new Kingman Turquoise showing up in Native American Jewelry as well Anglo artist jewelry, old style and contemporary Turquoise jewelry. Keep your eyes peeled for wonderful jewelry made with this rare new Kingman Turquoise!
Mexican Turquoise Fills In For Chinese Turquoise
Mexican Turquoise is one of the most common varieties of turquoise in production jewelry today
Today some of the most common Turquoise in the jewelry market is Mexican Turquoise. Mexican Turquoise has come into the market vary heavily in the last ten years.
As the availability of American Turquoise, Persian Turquoise and TIbetan Turquoise decreased and since has become vary scarce, Mexican Turquoise and Chinese Turquoise has become the staple of product and tourist Turquoise Jewelry. For jewelers this is common knowledge, but for some collectors and Turquoise jewelry lovers this may be Turquoise news.
Let’s begin this story with a little history on Chinese Turquoise and Mexican Turquoise in American jewelry.
In the late 1970s some American business men, in the Native American and Turquoise jewelry business were granted permission to visit the famous Chinese Turquoise mines in Mashan and Hubei. During this exclusive visit they learned about China’s production and search for no matrix “Robin’s Egg” blue Turquoise, which previous to the 1950s had been the only Turquoise considered jewelry grade. They found that the Chinese had been throwing all of the nuggets and vein of Turquoise that was anything other than clear “Robin’s Egg” blue into the dumps. Upon learning of this fact, and knowing from the thriving American Turquoise market that Spider Web Turquoise was the most valued in the US and Japan, these business men decided to go through the dumps and see what was in them. They ended up finding a huge dump of high grade natural Chinese Turquoise with gorgeous spider web matrix, some rivaling the famous Lander Blue Turquoise of Nevada! This find ended up flooding the Turquoise jewelry market and eventual drove most of the American miners out. This made Chinese Turquoise the most used Turquoise in commercial jewelry next to Kingman and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise. The Chinese Turquoise mines have recently closed! That brings us up to date when Mexican Turquoise is beginning to take over where Chinese Turquoise has left a gap to be filled.
Mexican Turquoise takes a larger stance in the Jewelry market
Today with the amount of Chinese and American Turquoise dwindling, Mexican Turquoise has been able to rise in popularity with jewelers. This factor combined with new finds and mines in Mexico has made Mexico the up and coming commercial grade Turquoise. Long ago Mexican Turquoise was known for the Turquoise from the Evans mine in Baja Mexico. The Evans Turquoise mine in Baja Mexico produced Turquoise that looked much like the Turquoise from some of the Nevada mines in America. These days not much is coming from the Evans mine in Baja and the majority is coming from a mining deposit a little south of the Arizona border near Bisbee, Arizona. There are several mines in this area by various names. Most of the Mexican Turquoise being sold these days is marketed as Cananea Turquoise and Nacosari Turquoise. This Mexican Turquoise is vary beautiful and looks alot like Morenci and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise from Arizona. Most of the Mexican Turquoise has to be stabilized in order to be cut into gems. Most of the Mexican Turquoise comes out of the ground as Chaulk Turquoise. In rare cases gem grade Turquoise has been mined.
You will find Mexican Turquoise in all types of jewelry from Inlay jewelry to Navajo style jewelry to modern Silver Jewelry. Artist from all over the world are using the Mexican Turquoise. Unfortunatly, a lot of this Mexican Turquoise is missrepresented as Sleeping Beauty or Morenci Turquoise, so be careful! If it is sold to you as Mexican Turquoise, buy, buy, buy! It is great stuff and now is the time to buy it at a good price before the supply runs out and the price rises.
I hope this Turquoise news will be helpful to you and will aid you in your next investment in Mexican Turquoise!
Bisbee Turquoise Jewelry
Some of the world’s rarest Turquoise Jewelry is Bisbee Turquoise Jewelry
Bisbee Turquoise is one of the hardest turquoise stones to find. To discerning Turquoise jewelry lovers, Bisbee Turquoise Jewelry is recognizable by its true blue color and rich chocolate brown matrix.
High Grade Natural Bisbee Turquoise Bracelet
As you can see in the Bisbee Turquoise peice to the left, Bisbee Turquoise displays some interesting matrix patterns. This gorgeous brownish red matrix mixed with the true blue is what Bisbee Turquoise is know for and what people look for in Bisbee Turquoise Jewelry.
Many Discerning Turquoise Jewelry Collectors Search For Bisbee Turquoise Jewelry
Bisbee turquoise is one of the hardest turquoise stones to find. To discerning turquoise jewelry lovers, Bisbee turquoise is recognizable by its true blue color and rich chocolate brown matrix. As it sometimes happens, Bisbee turquoise can show up without some of its more characteristic elements. The Bisbee turquoise pictured is a freeform Bisbee blue American turquoise cabochon. The stone came from the Bisbee, Arizona, mines more than 35 years ago. It was cut from the Cecil Mickelson Collection, which was acquired by the Durango Silver Comany. Dillon Hartman of Durango Silver Co. handcut the stone, which measures approximately 23mm long x 21mm wide and nearly 4mm thick.
But it’s green, a rarely known specimen from the Bisbee mines!
For more on the rarity of Bisbee turquoise, read its short history that shorted supply and increased demand.
When in Durango, be sure to visit Durango Silver Company for an upfront view of their current and vintage collections of authentic Bisbee turquoise jewelry.
For more on the rarity of Bisbee turquoise, read its short history that shorted supply and increased demand.
When in Durango, be sure to visit Durango Silver Company for an upfront view of their current and vintage collections of authentic Bisbee turquoise jewelry.
Durango Silver Company – Authentic Turquoise Jewelry
There’s a place in the Southwest where it is known you can find Authentic Turquoise Jewelry called The Four Corners, where the four states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico come together at one point on the ground. Seventy-five miles from this point is the Durango Silver Company, where four turquoise assets–jewelry, craftmanship, great deals, good service–come together for jewelry lovers traveling the Southwest.
Authentic Turquoise Jewelry
14k Gold Bisbee Turquoise and Ruby Ring
The Durango Silver Company is a family business, owned and operated by the Hartmans. John and Estell, their son, Dillon, and his wife, Nattarika, are family members that create jewelry, cut stones and beads, and market the families jewelry. Recently Crystal Hartman has begun to make Turquoise Jewelry with the family as well. Durango Silver Company has been making Authentic Turquoise Jewelry since the 1970s.
The Hartmans operate on a fully integrated business model for their turquoise jewelry business. That’s to say, they own the mines, they do the digs, they polish the stones, they craft the turquoise into stunning jewelry, and retail it to you—lucky customer—in their silver and turquoise jewelry gallery.
The gallery is a treasure trove of turquoise jewelry, from traditional Navajo designs to Southwest style contemporary pieces by local artists.
You will find authentic Turquoise jewelry in every style including some very modern designs that have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Glamour Magazine, and Ralph Lauren Magazine
The turquoise is authentic. Bisbee, Morenci, Fox, Blue Gem, Number Eight, Royston, Royston Ribbon, and Spiderweb are among the high quality turquoise specimens from which the turquoise designs are made.
The Hartmans also do business in trade with Native American craftsmen who make Authentic Turquoise Jewelry. When not fashioning their own turquoise into their own designs, the Hartmans are trading with Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and other Native American tribes for their best authentic turquoise jewelry creations.
A visit to The Four Corners region of the beautiful Southwest would not be complete without a stop in Durango.
By the way, Oprah visited Durango and loved it! Here come the crowds from New York!
For Authentic Turquoise Jewelry
The Durango Silver Company welcomes you and is waiting to service your every turquoise desire.
For more, visit
The Durango Silver Company
17897 U.S. Highway 160
Durango, Colorado 81301
970 375-2401
Thank you for reading this article on Authentic Turquoise Jewelry by Lorraine Yapps Cohen.
Bisbee Turquoise: It’s Breif History & Short Supply Increase Demand
Imagine it’s 1877. Nearly two decades ago, you rushed out to the West seeking all that gold they talked about. And all you got was wet, dirty, broke, and a few sparkly flakes. Unless you were Hugh, Harry, and Joe. For the three prospectors, Misters Jones, McCoy, and Halcro, their determination paid off, not in gold but in a copper find in the mountainous corner of southeastern Arizona.
Bisbee Turquoise Cabochons
They staked their claim, and as the song says, fools rushed in. Hundreds of claims later in less than two years, the area developed into a mining camp known locally as Mule Gulch. The town kept on growing, attracting more miners, more claims, more digging for earthly riches. But they were no fools; they just had no money.
The Copper Queen mine resulted from the largest claim. It too needed a financial backer for operations to continue. That backer turned out to be Dewitt Bisbee, a judge from San Francisco, for whom the growing Arizona mining town, Bisbee, was named. It is said that Judge Bisbee never saw Bisbee. If it were me for which they named a town, I surely would have scheduled a visit. It went on to be one of young America’s most important mining towns of the time.
It’s 1881. Another large claim, the Atlanta, soon attracted the attention of another business investor. Phelps Dodge (not to be confused with certain Chrysler car dealerships) bought up Atlanta, merging it with the Copper Queen in 1885, bringing in the railroad in 1889, and becoming the owner of most of the valuable copper mining properties in the region by the turn of the century.
Now, remember your chemistry and gemological knowledge. Turquoise is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminum and gets its familiar aqua color from the copper. Turquoise is found in veins associated with copper ores. So, it’s no surprise that turquoise was found in the Bisbee mines, which were mining copper for more than fifty years
To increase copper production, low-grade ores were worked from nearby areas. One such open mine, called Sacramento Hill, was ordered extracted by the Phelps Dodge mine operations manager, Harrison Lavender. When Lavender’s crew was done with Sacramento Hill, they renamed it Lavender Pit, not only because the hill was now a pit, and not only because Harry Lavender ordered it dug out, but also because it was lavender, the color. Yes, the pit looks light purple from afar.
Natural Bisbee Turquoise Nugget
It’s 1950.
It’s 1972.
It’s 1974.
Lavender Pit was shut down as a turquoise mining site. No more new Bisbee turquoise entered the market as lapidary roughs for jewelry supply.
It’s now.
Lavender Pit in Bisbee, Arizona, is a tourist destination with foot paths and walking tours conducted at the rim. Visitors can peer into the place where Bisbee turquoise came from, but will not any more. Bisbee turquoise, what there was of it, can now be found in vintage turquoise jewelry, from collectors, or ordered from the current owners. You can imagine that they ration whatever existing supply remains.
All of this is the reason authentic Bisbee turquoise is expensive, in short supply, and high demand, but, oh, so lovely, and oh, so hard to get.
Note: As a jewelry designer, I know that authentic Bisbee turquoise jewelry can be found in the Southwest, but only if you look hard and demand authenticity. In Colorado, Durango Silver Company has access to vintage Bisbee collections and can fashion fine jewelry from Bisbee turquoise by master jewelry craftsmen in the Hartman family.
For more on Bisbee turquoise, contact Durango Silver Company, 17897 U.S. Highway 160, Durango, Colorado 81301, (970) 375-2401
Continue reading on Examiner.com Bisbee turquoise: Its brief history shorts supply, increases demand – National Jewelry | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/jewelry-in-national/bisbee-turquoise-its-brief-history-shorts-supply-increases-demand#ixzz1RurkOnnq