Turquoise (classic material)

Item Description

A really attractive old-time Turquoise specimen from the Mona Lisa Mine in Arkansas. These piece are regarded among the best quality Turquoise from any US locality largely for the color and consistency, but also because they are typically free of white crazing, cracks, spider web patterns, zoning or lines that can be found in Turquoise from the southwestern United States. This particular specimen was mined by Jack McBride in the 1970s, and was purchased by Rich Kosnar shortly after it was found. The Mona Lisa Mine in recent years has been in the new due to recent mining operations which have produced a good amount of material, including the largest nugget of Turquoise ever found in the United States (weighing roughly 245 pounds). This piece is a great example of the old material featuring a very pleasing pure blue color (with virtually no green overtone) which can be seen on all sides of the specimen, intergrown with a bit of white matrix. A very attractive piece of this desirable material from a locality that in recent years has produced some excellent pieces of Turquoise. Specimen weight is 47.0 grams.
From the collection of the well-known mineral dealer Richard ("Rich") A. Kosnar (1946-2007). Rich was born in New Jersey, but spent most of his life in Colorado. He built and impressive worldwide collection, and was the namesake for the phosphate Kosnarite (a rare honor for a mineral dealer).