Congratulations!

We hope you enjoy your Crystal Bisbee Turquoise Gemstone that you have purchased from us. We want you to know you have a rare Bisbee Turquoise gemstone and there will never be another like it as it is a one-of-a-kind stone. 

We have saved the Bisbee Rock Specimen for over 25 years before we cut it up. Mining for Turquoise in the Bisbee Mine ended in 1977 and we are one of the very few that still have true Bisbee Turquoise today. The rock weighed almost 4 lbs. and the cabochons sold extremely fast. There was approximately 125 lbs. of Lander Blue that sold from 1973 to 1974 and was being sold at $4.00 per carat. Today, Lander Blue is being sold at about $350.00 per carat. There is no doubt in our minds, Bisbee Turquoise of all qualities will grow in value exponentially in the future and especially specimens such as the one you have purchase from us. 

Please take note that we advise you to take extra special care of your Crystal Bisbee Turquoise Stone. We would recommend that you make it into a pendant or put it in your shrine.

We know that turquoise is believed by healers, spiritual leaders, and cultures worldwide to give its bearers happiness, good health, and fortune. May the powers of this fine gemstone be with you!

John & Estell Hartman

Durango Silver Company

Durango, Colorado

Download your certification here: Certificate of Authenticity

One of the hottest new Turquoise varieties on the market in 2019/2020 is called Sonoran Gold.  This beautiful turquoise comes in an aqua blue, lime green, and a two tone blue and green.  It features beautiful golden to brown matrix. This material produces some of the most beautiful gemstones you will ever see.  The high grade is a beautiful two tone which fades from baby blue to lime green and features yellow spiderweb matrix.  The Turquoise is soft and most of it is stabilized or treated with the Zachary process. Once treated it is extremely durable and gorgeous.

This Turquoise is mined in Mexico near the city of Cananea. This material is relatively new to the industry and is a newer deposit in the Cananea mines. 

Unlike most turquoise, Sonoran Gold is not mined in veins but rather as individual nuggets typically found in clay deposits.

This is definitely some material to keep your eye on.  We hope you enjoyed our presentation on Sonoran Gold Turquoise.  Look for some in our jewelry soon.

Turquoise Cabochons | Gemstone Cabs | Friday Cabochon Sale

Dealers in High Quality Turquoise Cabochons

• We have dealt in high quality Turquoise Cabochons for over 40 years. Our specialty is American Turquoise from Arizona and Nevada. We also have high quality Turquoise cabochons from other areas of the world such as China, Egypt and Persia.
• The photos and information we provide online is accurate which makes it very convenient to find the Turquoise Cabochons you desire. We have made it very easy for you to view many different types of Turquoise Cabochons at your leisure and in your own time frame. You can purchase one or more cabochons and they will be mailed to you immediately. We guarantee all of our Turquoise Cabochons to be authentic accurate to our photos and description.
• View our Turquoise Cabochons available 24 / 7 at; https://www.durangosilver.com/turquoise-cabochons
• We also have a Turquoise Cabochon Sale on Instagram every Friday Night starting at 7:00 PM. We feature great deals on unique one-of-a-kind Turquoise Cabochons. You will love attending this weekly Show and Sale, and you will find special Turquoise gems to add to your collection;
• We hope to see you Friday Night at: https://www.instagram.com/gemdesigner
  
  

Identify Your Jewelry

• Durango Silver Company has been in the Turquoise Jewelry business since 1972. Throughout the years we have been consistently asked: “Who made this Jewelry and what kind of Turquoise is this?”
• It is so important these days to identify your work properly. We highly recommend quality stamping your Jewelry with your complete identity. In addition, if you are using authentic high grade Turquoise in you Jewelry, we suggest considering stamping the type of Turquoise that is used in your special pieces.

Signature Concepts has been in the business of making high quality Jewelry stamps of over 25 years. We make custom Jewelry stamps that you will be proud of and at a price you can easily afford. Come see us at:https://www.durangosilver.com/silver-stamps.html
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Durango Silver Company | www.durangosilver.com

Phone : 970-375-2401 | dillon@durangosilver.com

Hey there guys. Have you seen our YouTube channel? If not take a look at :

https://www.youtube.com/user/DurangoSilver

We have a ton of nice videos about Turquoise, making jewelry, and the lapidary arts.  Learn to cut gemstone cabochons, make handmade jewelry, and about different gemstones.   Most of our videos are about Turquoise as that is our specialty and field of expertise. 

Watch an example below: 

If you like our videos in YouTube don't forget to give them a thumbs up and to subscribe to our channel.

Thanks for following us.

Turquoise is a hydrous aluminum phosphate with a cupric base. That is the chemical make up of Turquoise. 

Turquoise is found in arid parts of the world. Water, usually as runoff, comes down mountainsides and settles in the rocks below. The water evaporates, leaving its trace elements behind. If the proper amounts of copper salts and aluminum are present in the rocks, they can come together with the water elements to form turquoise.

Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the rocks where it forms. For instance, if there is an abundance of copper, the turquoise will be more blue. Iron in the rock will tend to produce more green stone. Zinc deposits help produce very exotic shades of green turquoise, from apple greens to near neon colors. High amounts of Iron can affect the Turquoise as well an make it a yellow to brown color.  

Here in the Southwest, the matrix, or mother rock the turquoise forms in, is often considered as seriously as the actual turquoise when assessing a stone’s value. Early native Americans believed that the turquoise was a representation of the Father Sky and the rock matrix (host rock) that of Mother Earth. These were important Deities to their culture, so stones with a balance of both turquoise and host rock were prized for displaying a nice balance between the two worlds, earth and sky.

Most turquoise enthusiasts believe that matrix adds “character” to a stone. The combination adds depth and variety to an already fascinating stone. Standards and judgement concerning matrix qualities are as varied as those of the turquoise itself.

Common matrix in turquoise runs from black (a material called Chert) to browns (different materials from Limonite to Kaelin). Kaelin is clay that has hardened into rock, and is often quite attractive by itself. Combined with the blues and greens of the turquoise, it can be a gorgeous enhancement.

Usually, the more evenly distributed the matrix is throughout the turquoise, the more desirable. The most prized is a spiderweb matrix, where the mother rock forms a very even web pattern throughout the turquoise. This is a very rare phenomenon, making spiderweb turquoise most sought after.

As it is one of the last things to form in geological time, most turquoise is very soft. Forming so close to the surface, it doesn’t get the density of a compressed sedimentary stone hardening over time and pressure. Consequently, little of the mined turquoise is solid enough to be simply taken from its natural ore, cut into polished stones, and set into jewelry. In fact, only perhaps 15 percent of mined turquoise is suitable or hard enough to be polished and used in jewelry in its natural condition.

Eighty-five percent of the turquoise used in jewelry has been treated to make it durable enough for wearing. There are many ways to make a soft piece of turquoise more suitable or attractive. One common way is called stabilizing, where a liquid epoxy is soaked into the stone under vacuum pressure. This process fills the microscopic pores in the gem. The resulting treated turquoise is then hard enough to be processed for jewelry. Turquoise can also be dyed, oiled, waxed and filled to cover blemishes and enhance the color. Indians making strands of beads learned ages ago that by placing their pieces of turquoise in boiling tallow (sheep fat) for a couple hours, the stone became easier to drill, grind, and polish with less waste.

There is nothing wrong with using any of these or other treatment methods -- so many other jewelry stones, from topaz to quartz, are commonly manipulated with heat or radiation to produce a variety of color varieties and there are no negative consequences. What is wrong, though, is when treated turquoise is marketed as natural and sold at the higher price that the more rare and valuable natural stone demands.

We do not believe that Natural Turquoise is better than Stabilized for most intents and purposes. We believe that both have there purpose, place, beauty, and use. Natural is more rare. On the flip side Stabilized is more durable and does not change colors.

Stabilized Turquoise is better suited for most consumers. Turquoise is NOT stabilized to trick people. That is a myth. Gemstones are stabilized to make them more durable and to keep the color from changing in softer stones, end of story. This process was developed by Tiffany and Co back when they owned Turquoise mines and it was a major stone in their jewelry lines. They developed the process to better the gemstone and their product line.

Another myth is that Stabilized Turquoise is cheaper than natural. THAT IS FALSE. Most of the Stabilized turquoise we cut is more expensive in the rough than MOST of the natural Turquoise rough that is for sale by miners which is accessible to most cutters without special connections to the miners. Most of the natural Turquoise rough for sale today is medium to low grade. ONLY NATURAL GEM QUALITY Turquoise is more valuable, not because it is better, but because there is a lower percentage (less than 10%) of gems from any mine that are naturally hard, stunning color and matrix, and able to cut wonderfully.

We have paid as much as 5,000 per lbs for Stabilized high grade rough and we have paid as little as 75 per lbs for Natural rough (which was low grade, but a customer request it). On the flip side, there is natural Turquoise rough out there worth as much as 20,000 per lbs. This is why you must trust who you are buying from and why you MUST DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH if you are concerned about natural and stabilized. To the trained eye it is very easy to tell natural from stabilized. It can also be told from the price when dealing with high grade. Gem grade stabilized stones usually sell for 3 – 25 dollars per carat depending on the mine they came from, color, and matrix pattern. Gem grade natural Turquoise usually sells from 5 – 300 dollars per carat. There is a wide range of values for both types of Turquoise. For the most part this is why people are concerned. They want to make sure they are not over paying for stones. To me that is not as much of a worry as you can see unless you are talking about super high grade collectible stones that belong in gold, the prices are fairly similar. In fact, on today’s market much of the Stabilized Turquoise commands a higher price than the mid grade natural that most cutters sale.

One reason that you may be very concerned whether a stone is natural or not would be a personal preference or belief that natural is more “organic” or less processed. This would be especially concerning if your customers had been trained by salesman that natural is better, or if they had been trained by healers that natural is more pure, hence more powerful for healing.

In closing, my advice is not to judge either variety of Turquoise or other gemstones, but rather think of your use for the product knowing that in many ways stabilized gems are far superior. As a lifetime jeweler and stone cutter, we will admit we used to be a purist, however over time and experience having made and sold our jewelry as well as others, to hundreds of thousands of customers, in general, stabilized gems are better for most end users. You will avoid repairs, chipped stones, and the jewelry will be more affordable. Which is a “win win” for most. How we conduct our jewelry business is to make both products in as many price ranges as possible so that we can accommodate every customer as best as we can.

A New Age Look at Stabilized Turquoise

We hope this is helpful information and can help ease your concerns and add to your collecting and making experience. More information can be found on http://www.durangosilver.com/turquoise-learning-center.html

One of the original Turquoise mines in the Southwestern United States is the Canyon Creek Turquoise mine. Research has shown that this mine was key in the trade of the sky stone with the Native American cultures before the arrival of the Spaniards. 

The Canyon Creek mine appears to have been the most active during the 13th and 14th centuries. The Canyon Creek mine produced both green and blue Turquoise.  Most of the Turquoise from the mine appeared to be lighter in color and softer. 

Much of this Turquoise was used in sacred objects, alters, masks, amulets and other adornments. 

Canyon Creek Turquoise Mine History

Turquoise mines near Canyon Creek Ruin (AZ V:2:100 [ASM&91;), on the escarpment of the Grasshopper plateau in east-central Arizona, provide a supply-side perspective on the production and distribution of one of Pre-columbian North America's most highly valued commodities. Although a minimum of 1,000 work days were spent by prehistoric peoples in quarrying at Canyon Creek, the site has been overlooked as a significant turquoise source. Compositional analyses link the mine to turquoise excavated from the Room 113 manufacturing area at Grasshopper Pueblo (AZ P:14:1 [ASM&91;). Both the commodity and the Canyon Creek source apparently were important in east-central Arizona prehistory, but there is as yet no material evidence that the quarry was monitored or systematically exploited by a managerial elite. 

Learn More about the Canyon Creek Turquoise Mine

The Canyon Creek Turquoise Mine, Arizona | Request PDF. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307794112_The_Canyon_Creek_Turquoise_Mine_Arizona [accessed Aug 03 2018&91;.

Desert Bloom Variscite is some of the most beautiful natural variscite on earth.  This variety of American Variscite runs from a deep emerald green to a bright lime green.  The material is semi translucent to opaque.  This Nevada Variscite is known for it's deep lime green to lime green variscite with stark black spider web matrix with golden brown matrix. This stunning matrix comes in tight web form as small as a pin head apart all the way to web with patterning that is a few inches apart. Desert Bloom also produces gems that will be solid green with no matrix.  Some of the rarest form of this material is the super large webbed material.  The mine has produced a few nuggets larger than a soccer ball that are solid spider web lime green variscite. This material has similarities to Damele Variscite.  So far it has not produced the Damele Faustite or Turquoise type material.  Desert Bloom is a deposit in the larger Vista Grande mining claim which features Desert Bloom, Emerald City, and Vista Grande Variscite.

The Visa Grande Variscite mine is located in the Candelaria Hills of Southwestern Nevada. This mine was discovered in 2016 by Rodney Frisby and Allen Chambers.  The mine produces some of the highest grade natural variscite on earth.  The mine is most famous for the Desert Bloom deposit.  The Emerald City deposit produces a finer webbed version of Desert Bloom that is also a deep green to a deep blue/green.  The Vista Grande material is similar to New Lander, Prince, or Tortoise Variscite. As with all mines this group of claims produces all kinds of looks.  We have seen material from this mine that resembles material from most of the other Nevada Variscite mines. Having said that the prominate look is the fabulous Desert Bloom material that is currently carving its way into the history books.

Vista Grande Variscite Mine History

Alan Chambers and Rodney Frisby have been lifelong friends. Alan has had a property in Mina, Nevada for years.Rodney had been there several times visiting or buying equipment but it wasn't until 2014 that the two went out looking for gemstones in the Candelaria Hills. Alan knew the hills very well and had done lots of contract work for the silver mine there. The two soon discovered some old deposits that Alan knew of from years ago and one of them they went too led to the discovery of the Sky Cloud Mine which was a virgin Turquoise deposit which is now the Sierra Nevada Turquoise mine and has transferred to the Ottesons.  We continued our prospecting and soon had several variscite properties to work with. None of them were generated a whole lot of money so Rodney continued prospecting. He soon found a deposit which he still has claimed today and is just down the hill of from the Vista Grande. Anyways, he took Alan to the canyon where the finds were, he was on the back of the quad, and he said stop and let me off. He hiked up a mountain that looked to me to be barren but when he came back down with a handful of pure green nuggets. Alan was surprised. This was the beginning of the Vista Grande / Desert Bloom Variscite mine.

After looking the logistics of getting a road up to the top Rodney picked out a ridge and blazed the trail. It was pretty hairy actually. After Rodney reached the spot where Alan had found the nuggets it wasn't long before he discovered spider web at another spot say a hundred feet away. The two continued to dig by hand for the next six months and seeing the potential for a larger scale operation they took an excavator and track loader to the property. Did the proper bonding and started finding world class specimens as well as some of the finest spiderweb to come out of the Candelaria Hills ever. The rest is pretty much history and this story is only the last three years actually. Hard to say what will come out of the mine ion the future but we are pretty sure it will spectacular!

- Desert Bloom Variscite / Vista Grande Variscite History by Rodney Frisby.

There is a lot of beautiful Turquoise in the world, from many different countries, with many different colors, matrix patterns, no matrix. There are certain varieties of Turquoise from a handful of mines which are above and beyond that of normal Turquoise.

One of the most iconic, collectible and beautiful varieties of Turquoise come from the Ithaca Peak claim in the Mineral Park mining district outside of Kingman, Arizona USA.

This beautiful variety of Turquoise is comes in a true baby blue to a deep rich blue with black matrix, quartz matrix, and pyrite inclusions.  The beautiful brass colored pyrite really sets the turquoise off and makes it easy to identify. Much of what comes out of the Ithaca Peak mine is high grade.  This material is highly coveted both in the natural form and in the stabilized form.  Ithaca Peak takes to gentle stabilization well.  All of this material is gently stabilized in a simple soaking method which only penetrates the microscopic pores in the Turquoise. No color is added to the turquoise and the Turquoise is stabilized as whole nuggets and chunks of vein.

Ithaca Peak Turquoise Mine Information

Ithaca Peak Turquoise comes from the Cerbat Mountains in Mohave County. It is part of the Mineral Park mining district and was at one time one of the two main turquoise deposits along with Turquoise Mountain. This claim produced all grades of Turquoise, yet, had a high amount of high grade gem Turquoise that came out. 

Ithaca peak turquoise, like Kingman, is typically a beautiful sky blue color but is specifically known for heavier pyrite inclusions. While pyrite is also found in other types of turquoise, it will usually be more of a brassy color in the Ithaca Peak material, which can be helpful in differentiating it from similar stones like Morenci turquoise. Ithaca Peak Turquoise is also famous for its deep midnight blue colored gems. The material can go from a "Robin's Egg" blue all the way to a Lapis blue.  Looks that are collectible include gems with high percentage of pyrite, black spider web gems, gems with deep blue with pyrite and quartz matrix.

Above are some examples of top gem grade examples of cabochons from the Ithaca Peak mine in Arizona, USA. Below are a few more looks of collectible gems from this wonderful deposit.

The most important policy we stress for our buying authentic Native American Indian jewelry or in making our jewelry would be for all items to be made of sterling silver or purer. 

We craft our jewelry from 90% newly refined .925 pure Sterling Silver and 10% recycled Sterling Silver we have saved up from our filing, cutting, clipping etc. 

As Sterling is fairly priced and fairly inexpensive we have no need to use anything less.  We prefer the look of Sterling Silver over .999 pure silver due to the beautiful color that the tarnish adds to the silver.  You will notice that .999 pure silver will have a whitish silver look and Sterling Silver jewelry will have a beautiful chrome / more blackish silver look.  Once tarnish is added and the buffed off of the jewelry this allows for the details to show well against the bright silver.  Sterling Silver also takes a much brighter shine.  In addition Sterling Silver is much more durable.

When it makes sense we will use .999 pure silver for a different look and feel.  .999 silver is great for earrings and pendants.

Jewelry by Other Artisans including Native American Jewelry

When it comes to jewelry from other artisans, most of what we carry we trade Turquoise or other gemstones for these items. We carry both Thai Jewelry items and Native American Jewelry items. 

Native American Jewelry

When it comes to trading for Native American Jewelry we only trade for genuine Navajo, Santa Domingo, or Zuni made jewelry. Most of the Jewelry we carry is made by seasoned, decorated high end Native American artisans. We also carry jewelry made by up and coming artisans that show true grit, talent and attention to detail and quality. We do not, under any circumstances, purchase imported items that are falsely made to look like or are marketed as true Native American Indian handcrafted jewelry and crafts. Sadly, not all sellers aspire to this same philosophy.  Not to worry it is very obvious which pieces are Native made and which are made in 3rd world countries.  High quality Southwestern jewelry is being made in other regions of the world by peoples have loved and collected this jewelry for decades.  In today's market a wonderful thing has happened.  All borders and race barriers have been broken.  Southwestern style jewelry is being created by Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian peoples, infact some of it is the highest of quality and can compete with the best Native American artists. 

Handmade Thai Jewelry

Here at Durango Silver Company we are honored to have Nattarika Hartman.  Nattarika was born and raised in 

Chiang Mai, Thailand.  She has been a life long artist with creations in paint, fabric, and metal. Nattarika has a degree in art and in fabric design.  Dillon met Nattarika in Chiang Mai and fell in love with her and her culture and peoples as well as the local art.  So together Dillon and Nattarika have added Thai Silver jewelry to our collection. Every time the go back to Thailand to visit family the bring a load of handmade Sterling Silver and .999 pure silver jewelry. Most of our Thai jewelry is handmade with primitive tools and techniques in the hills outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The jewelry is made by local Hill Tribe Peoples.  It goes fast, so keep your eyes peeled.

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