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North American Turquoise is one of the few stones that never leaves North America, from the mining, to the cutting, to the finished bead. North American Turquoise all carry the names of the mines from which they are produced - Sleeping Beauty, Kingman, Nevada 8, Campitos and Caballo Campitos are all names of turquoise mines, either in the U.S. or Mexico.We are proud to bring you these new, unique North American Turquoise stones.
The Sleeping Beauty Mine is one of the most beloved mines in the Southwest. Located in Globe, Arizona. Sleeping Beauty was first mined for copper and gold. The city of Globe was founded in 1875 as a mining camp and today, mining and tourism are the driving force behind the town’s economy. The Sleeping Beauty mine supplied copper and turquoise for 40 years. However, turquoise production was closed in August 2012, when the owners decided to focus solely on copper mining. This mine gets its unique name from its shape. It appears to resemble a sleeping woman with her arms crossed or Princess Aurora “asleep” in her bed.
  The Kingman Mine, which began mining in the 1880's, is still exploring and could continue to find new veins. The Campitos turquoise comes from a mine in Sonora, Mexico, that has been in production since the 1980's. There are a few other mines, some still producing, scattered across Arizona, Nevada and into Mexico. Once a mine is closed, you will only be able to find "old stock" collections of rough, cabs or slabs. Luckily, mine owners, miners and collectors have always kept a nice stash of turquoise from various mines and will usually part with it down the road for the right price.We have located great sources of natural North American Turquoise. They know the ins and outs of the mining process and the stabilization of each stone. They stand behind their work as 100% genuine and untreated beyond their proprietary stabilization process. They do nothing to alter the color or appearance of the stone. Stabilization is standard in Turquoise beads today. The stones with both good natural hardness and color are very rare and are incredibly expensive. The Turquoise in mines today may not be hard enough and would break if drilled or shaped without stabilization.
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3 comments
3 thoughts on “The Story of Our North American Turquoise”
Ken Rogers
Native peoples of the Himalayas would give a young child a nugget of blue Turquoise to wear. As the child matures into adulthood, and beyond, the Turquoise nugget would change color. It is also said, that Shamans would study the person’s Turquoise nugget to tell the health of the person. This color change occurs naturally as Turquoise is a porous gemstone, and it can absorb the wearer’s body oils, and other contaminates.
Over the years, Turquoise miners have been stabilizing, crumbly low grade (chalk) Turquoise with resins, to make them harder, and they would add blue coloring agents to add or improve its color.
But now it has been found that just by stabilizing higher grade Turquoise, it wouldn’t absorb the wearer’s body oils, perfumes. lotions, etc., thus preventing the Turquoise from changing color. Now there is a new, proprietary stabilization process (the Zachary Process) , that does just this, and it does nothing to alter the color or appearance of the stone. In fact, the GIA says: " Examination of samples treated by this process revealed that Zachery-treated turquoise has gemological properties that are similar to those of untreated natural turquoise, and that the treatment does not involve impregnation with a polymer. Also, most Zachery-treated turquoise can only be identified through chemical and EDXRF spectroscopy analysis." In conclusion, by using Turquoise treated with this new process, it can add value to the Turquoise, and jewelry created with it.
September 29, 2022 at 10:32am
Pam Caudy
Thanks for the turquois blog. I love the stories and Sleeping Beauty turquoise the best.
July 13, 2022 at 19:22pm
Ricky Atherton
I love turquoise!
July 13, 2022 at 19:22pm