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Colorado Turquoise Facts &
Mines
Example Pictures are
not necessarily the highest of grade, rather a good example of a common
look from a particular mine.
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Cripple Creek
(Elkhorn Claim, Florence Mine, O'Haver Claim, Roanoke Shaft,
Hidden Treasure Mine)
The Cripple Creek in Teller County, Colorado is the site
of a number of small gold mines. Cripple Creek turquoise is
found primarily as a by-product of gold mining. One of the
groups still mining the site are the Bad Boys of Cripple Creek.
This area yields some greenish turquoise, and some light to
dark blue turquoise with brown matrix.
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Leadville
(Turquoise Cheif Mine or Josie May)
Colorado does not have many turquoise mines but the
few that it has are good ones. The stones usually have a lot
of individual character, and vibrant colors. We have not seen
much of this material in many years, therefore consider it
very rare and hard to come by.
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Picture Coming Soon!
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Manassa
(King's Mine or Lickskillet Mine)
Manassa turquoise is mined at Manassa in south central Colorado.
It is known for its blue-green to green color with a golden
or brown, non-webbed matrix. The Manassa mine is still in
production, and owned by the King family, thus the alternate
name sometimes used for this turquoise. The Manassa mine used
to be call the Lickskillet Mine in the old days. This stone
is one of our favorite, the beautiful green color is VERY
striking, excellent when used in gold.
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Villa Grove
Villa Grove Turquoise was some of the finest Turquoise
to ever come out of American soil. The Villa Grove Mine
in Colorado is currently covered by a small mountain lake
created by runoff and a natural spring, therefore is not
being mine currently. The Mine was last owned by George
Musik and before that by Menless Winfield. The turquoise
is vivid deep blue, the only other turquoise we have seen
with the highly coveted Bisbee Blue coloration or an absolutely
stunning electric blue, the difference is the matrix is
gold rather then brownish red, and usually a fine spiderweb
or dendrites. The high-grade Villa Grove Turquoise in our
opinion is incomparable, definitely the most beautiful Turquoise
we have ever seen including Bisbee, and Lander Blue! The
blue in the high-grade is so blue that a few cabs will turn
a whole wall blue! This stone is very rare these days, especially
the high-grade. Our Favorite!
Villa Grove Turquoise
Jewelry
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Other Colorado Mines:
Creede District
Holycross District
Sugarloaf District
Summitville District
Example Pictures are
not necessarily the highest of grade, rather a good example of a common
look from a particular mine.
I will continue to add to this list
and eventually attempt to have a listing of all turquoise mines that
have existed in Colorado. I need your help! If you know of another
legitimate mining operation or old mine claim in Colorado, contact
me at: durangodillon@gmail.com
We are always looking for great Turquoise and rare
turquoise examples from all over the world. Please contact us if you
know were to come across any, right now we are looking for Turquoise
from California, Montana, Utah, and Virginia. We collect other rare
gemstones.
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