Is Kingman Pink Dahlia turquoise natural?

So many thousands of pounds, both treated and natural, have been produced at the Kingman mine over the years that any time a turquoise is not easily identified or lacks provenance, there is a good chance it is Kingman.

What is Kingman Dahlia turquoise?

The Kingman Turquoise Mine is one of the oldest and highest producing Turquoise Mines in America. It was originally discovered by prehistoric Indians well over 1000 years ago. Kingman Turquoise is known for its beautiful sky blue color and produces many variations of blue Turquoise.

How can you tell Kingman turquoise?

Kingman Turquoise comes from the Kingman mine in Arizona. Kingman Turquoise ranges in color from sky blue to hues of green, the green turquoise actually comes from the Turquoise Mountain side of the mine, and is desired for it's distinct coloring. This turquoise ring shows the appeal of the Kingman turquoise hue.

Is Kingman turquoise treated?

What is Stabilized Turquoise? Stabilized turquoise is a process of hardening turquoise stones so they can be used in jewelry. Many people are aware of stabilization because this treatment has been around since the 1950s. The Colbaugh family, who also own the large Kingman mine, first developed this process.

Is Arizona turquoise real turquoise?

Arizona Turquoise mines are world famous for their beautiful true blue Turquoise. Turquoise is Arizona's most important gem material. This gem ranks top in value per production and is the most widely known of Arizona's gemstones.

Kingman Turquoise - Different looks of Turquoise

Is Kingman turquoise rare?

Today, even the quality natural turquoise from Kingman has become rare in the wake of rising demand for good quality American turquoise.

Is Arizona turquoise rare?

By the early 1960's, the demand for Bisbee turquoise was high. Bisbee turquoise comes in many shades of blue with webbing, but the highest quality Bisbee turquoise is dark blue with chocolate brown or red webbing. Today, genuine Bisbee turquoise is rare and highly collectible.

How can you tell if turquoise is stabilized or natural?

After treatment, stabilized turquoise is harder and is unlikely to break or crack. The stone is no longer porous, so it doesn't absorb liquids or oils and the color is "locked" - unlike natural turquoise where the color can change, or deepen, over time. The cheapest forms of "turquoise" are block and imitation.

Is Kingman turquoise Sleeping Beauty?

A rich teal-green with lots of matrix, The Kingman also produces blue turquoise, although the veining is different from Sleeping Beauty. Here we have a basket of raw Kingman chips, both blue and green. They look very similar to Sleeping Beauty, in fact this mine recently discovered a new pocket of sky blue.

What's the difference between treated and untreated turquoise?

Without treatment, most turquoise will absorb chemicals from its environment and change to a greenish color over the years, owing to the porous nature of the gem. Nevada turquoise is generally higher quality and often a much lower percentage of the mine production requires treatment.

What is the rarest type of turquoise?

Lander Blue Spiderweb Turquoise is some of the rarest Turquoise on earth and in high demand, Buyers must beware of impersonators, the highest grade of Chinese Spiderweb Turquoise is often sold as Lander Blue Turquoise, it takes an experienced professional to detect true Lander Blue Turquoise.

What is the highest quality turquoise?

Blue Turquoise

The most-prized turquoise color is an even, intense, medium blue, sometimes referred to as robin's egg blue or sky blue in the trade.

Does Kingman turquoise have pyrite in it?

Morenci and Kingman are two of the best known mines for having pyrite. However, there is pyrite in Mexican (and other) turquoise as well.

Who owns Kingman turquoise?

Commercial mining of the Mineral Park Mine began in the 1880s; the Colbaugh family has owned and operated Kingman facilities since the start of Arizona's turquoise mining boom. Colbaugh founder's grandson, Marty, currently runs the Mineral Park Mine, bringing a personal touch to all of his business.

What is Nevada turquoise?

Nevada produces some of the finest turquoise in the world, and probably the planet's widest diversity of colors and mixes of matrix patterns. Turquoise from Nevada comes in various shades of blue, blue-green, green-blue, and green, all of which are considered valuable.

How can you tell if Sleeping Beauty turquoise is real?

Search for pieces of lumpy dye or places where the color may actually be peeling off. And if the color looks too strikingly blue, it may be fake. Real sleeping beauty stones are a 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale of hardness, which means they don't scratch easily.

Why is Sleeping Beauty turquoise so expensive?

In 2012, the Sleeping Beauty mine closed and sent prices skyrocketing (not because the mine was spent, but because the copper mine that owned the mining concession sold the mine, and its new owner decided not to pursue the turquoise mining operation, according to Foutz). Buyers used to pay $10 per ct.

What is AAA grade turquoise?

Best (AAA)

These turquoise stones have a sky-blue hue and are also eye-clean. In terms of quality, this category features the top 10% of the turquoise stones.

Is pink turquoise real?

Genuine Turquoise has a bright blue-green color, while fake Turquoise aka howlite can be a wide range of colors, including green, black, brown, pink, and even purple.

How can you tell if turquoise is dyed?

Acetone: This involves either soaking your stone in acetone, or rubbing part of the stone with acetone to see if any color comes off. If it does, this means you have a dyed stone.

What is natural turquoise?

Natural turquoise is a hydrous aggregate of copper and aluminum. Turquoise gets its color from the amount of either copper or iron present. Vivid blue turquoise is a result of high copper content and the softer green tones result from iron. Turquoise stones have varying degrees of matrix.

How much is the most expensive turquoise?

High-grade Lander Blue turquoise can sell for as much as $500 per carat. To put that in perspective, that's more than $1.1 million per pound. Why is it so expensive? Because it is considered to be some of the hardest and highest grade turquoise ever discovered.

What is a Sleeping Beauty turquoise?

Sleeping Beauty turquoise is noted for its solid, light blue color with no matrix. The host rock is granite. Sleeping Beauty turquoise is the favorite of Zuni Pueblo lapidaries and silversmiths for the purity in color. This mine was one of the largest in North America.

Why is Bisbee turquoise so expensive?

By 1980, legal Turquoise mining of the site ended, and the mine was covered over. With so little of the stone ever recovered, it is truly hard to find genuine Bisbee, and it is an expensive stone due to its rarity, high-quality and unique color and matrix.