Turquoise (classic locality)

Item Description

A wonderful piece of this well-known material from Kingman, Arizona. Most of the Turquoise you'll see from various localities in the southwestern United States is typically only suitable for lapidary purposes, but the Kingman pieces are truly specimen-worthy, and that's certainly the case with this piece. Several patches of light blue colored Turquoise can be seen on multiple sides of the underlying matrix, associated with small patches of white Quartz. The piece is not at all polished or modified in any way. While it is labeled as Turquoise, 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 "Turquoise" 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.
From the collection of David L. Stoudt.