Turquoise cabochon (over 100 cts)

Item Description

This item is part of a special benefit auction for the Rice Museum of Rocks & Minerals (ricenorthwestmuseum.org). Items are either deaccessions from the museum's collection or were donated by generous supporters listed below.

Auction open April 1, 2021 through April 17, 2021.

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, April 19, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

This is a gorgeous, very bright, exceptionally polished, turquoise blue cabochon of Turquoise from the world famous copper deposit at Bisbee, Arizona. The cab is so well polished the slightly curving surface is incredibly reflective. There is only subtle variation in the Turquoise blue color and there are just a few flecks and subtle stringers of inclusions on the surface. The back of the piece is rough and unpolished and shows a red and gray finely brecciated matrix surrounded by Turquoise. The periphery of the piece is also polished with only minor irregularities as expected from polishing rough material. It is very difficult to find high quality Turquoise like this from Bisbee today, and this may have been collected from the Sacramento Pit which operated in the 1920s. However, it is most likely from the Lavender Pit which operated from the early 1950s to 1975 or so. Mass is 133.60 carats! This is a highly valued piece of classic Old West lapidary material, the likes of which is simply not seen except in museums.