With today’s post, we begin our exploration of turquoise from mines in “the turquoise state”: Nevada.
Like New Mexico and Arizona, Nevada has named turquoise as its state stone. And with good reason: Nevada has more turquoise mines within its borders than do the rest of the states combined.
To cover every turquoise (and putative turquoise) mine in Nevada is far beyond the scope of this blog; it would require months of dedicated posts. Many are now defunct; some of the newer ones are tiny and staked but unexcavated; and some do not produce turquoise at all, but rather, variscite and other pretenders. In the weeks to come, I’ll cover the major mines, both historical and contemporary, but I make no pretense that such coverage will be in any way complete. Today’s post is merely an overview, and introduction; next week, we’ll begin reviewing individual mine sources.
Nevada boasts some of the country’s most famous types of turquoise, and some of the most valuable. Unlike the veins found in Arizona, which we’ve covered here to date, Nevada turquoise tends to display a far greater presence of other minerals, and a far wider range of colors and matrices. Much of the turquoise found in Nevada is heavily shot with copper, leading to matrices that range from a delicate golden shade to bronze to brick reds to a brown so dark it looks black to the naked eye. But in some areas of Nevada, turquoise occurs secondarily mostly to iron, with the result that the matrices are a dark inky black, sometimes with a purplish cast. And sometimes, both types of matrices occur in the same stone. The stones themselves, depending on location and co-occurring minerals, can range from a pale powder blue to robin’s egg to sky blue to something darker yet; from a pale seafoam to brilliant lime green to a deep dark forest green shade; and in one specific area, Sacred White Buffalo turquoise that is genuine turquoise, not magnesite or howlite, and that ranges in color from the palest of ice blues to an actual white.
Nevada’s turquoise deposits run the gamut in terms of value, too, sometimes within the same deposit. For example, at the lower end of the price spectrum is Candelaria, a beautiful clear blue turquoise, usually with a black matrix, either patchy or webbed. It’s a beautiful stone that averages only $3 to $6 per carat in cabochon form, even for gem-grade stones. But there is a rarer form known as “Red-Webbed Candelaria” that can run some $50 per carat in cabochon form: It bears spiderweb matrices in a deep brick red, quite a departure from the usual black webbing, and produces beautiful Indian jewelry.
Perhaps the most famous Nevada turquoise, in the sense of the best-known, with the most recognizable name, is Royston. Royston is extremely popular with Native silversmiths and jewelers, both because much of it is very reasonably priced and because of the artistic value provided by its wide variability in color and matrix. Stone colors range from icy powder blue to sky blue, and from pale seafoam green to a nearly emerald color, with matrices that run the gamut from delicate spiderwebbing that looks almost black to huge bold blocky veins of copper in every shade from pale yellow to what’s known as “chocolate matrix.” There is also, unfortunately, a common two-pronged misconception among non-expert buyers that 1) the presence of copper in the matrix is the only thing that gives the stone any value, and 2) copper’s frequent and obvious presence makes Royston the most valuable form of turquoise out there. Both are hooey. As soon as someone starts telling you that, run, do not walk, in the other direction. In terms of value, high-qaulity Royston cabochons can be as little as $2 to $5 per carat. Don’t let the price fool you; it’s partly a function of the stone’s availability, but it’s absolutely no reflection on its quality or its beauty. There are higher-priced Royston cabs out there, some the stunning chocolate-matrix variety, some with multiple shades of green overlaying each other in the stone. Rarely have I seen any priced in the $20-per-carat range. That’s not to say that it’s not often expensive; one of the other advantages of Royston is that it’s often available in large blocks of gem-grade rough, and can be cut and cabbed into unusually large stones for big, bold jewelry pieces.
There are also much more valuable forms of Nevada turquoise out there: Lone Mountain, which tends toward robin’s-egg to sky blue with a black webbed matrix, and has been used regularly by Native artisans for more than a century; Indian Mountain, which runs the gamut of stone and matrix colors, and includes, in its broader area, Sacred White Buffalo; and Lander (sometimes called Lander Blue), which actually is the most expensive turquoise on the market (and limited to what is currently in existence).
Next week, we’ll begin highlighting some of these in detail. Get ready for an incredibly colorful tour along a genuine turquoise trail in the weeks to come.
~ Aji
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