Turquoise cabochon Candelaria deals mine, A-177

This Turquoise comes from the well known Candelaria mine in Nevada.Candelaria is an interesting deposit that has a very rich history dating back to the Spanish when in the area mining silver. They also discovered this Gem stone deposit and worked it back then. Candelaria provides a very diverse color and matrix pattern. Most of it has awesome spiderweb matrix..
In testing stone's recently from this mine, we find many are a Mohs hardness of 7..which means variscite will run a hardness of 4-5 and Turquoise runs a hardness of 5-6....but a lot of stones from this mine will test up to a hardness of 7..which clearly puts it even above turquoise in hardness...
Nevada has many mines and deposits we will classify as turquoise rare cousins..while turquoise is a hydrous aluminum phosphate...so are several other related stones and when nature is in charge we get rare variances of turquoise and even within a mine stones will test at many levels of elements that deals will vary from stone to stone with various amounts of copper and aluminum and iron and in some rare mines we get Zinc and Chromium and other elements that add unique colors. That is the fun of the mines and nature at its best...Turquoise while a gem stone is still just a rock and has variance of elements in it and those many elements give it unique colors and patterns.

This stone is cut from old material from this deposit. I cut the stone and then back it also. Which is how we cut stone in the southwest fot the very huge volume of turquoise that we use.This is the standard method for this industry. I cut turquoise for my jewelry designs as well as for the large manufacturers. I have been cutting turquoise for 35 years now and cut turquoise to last in jewelry.My jewelry that has my stones in in lasts a life time. Turquoise is a very special and very unique stone and very misunderstood and very few truely professional turquoise cutters exist in the USA.I have cut thousands of pounds of turquoise from all the old mines. I deal directly with the mine owners and I pick my rough from thousands of pounds avaialable. I try to pick rough that has very unique colors and patterns. You will see this is my cabs.If you are looking for a special look in turquoise or from a certain mine send me a email. I have a huge stock and probally have what you need.
This stone has been professionally cut and backed in my studio right here in the good old USA
Treatment--none...natural

Size............................................................ 29 x 36 mm, 7 mm thick,
Weight .......................................................50.5 cts
Mine................................................................Candelaria mine