Turquoise

Item Description

A wonderful specimen of Turquoise from Kingman, Arizona that has only been slightly tumbled, perhaps naturally in a stream or river, and not by man. This material is labeled as Turquoise, but it could certainly be a mix of Turquoise and Planerite, as true Turquoise is rather uncommon in nature, despite popular belief. Years ago, Gene Foord did some work on the Turquoise group, and its proper description, and noted that many samples of "Turqoise" turned out to be Planerite (see http://www.minersoc.org/pages/Archive-MM/Volume_62/62-1-93.pdf for more info). Nonetheless, because this piece is from Arizona, where Copper is abundant, I think that it is a bit safer to keep this piece labeled as Turquoise, especially since the color is so amazingly rich and BLUE, not a soft bluish-green that is often associated with the material. How often does one have the opportunity to obtain a richly colored unpolished SPECIMEN of Turquoise?