Blue Diamond Turquoise: Field Guide to Nevada's Stormy-Pattern Mine
Part of the Turquoise Mines field guides and The Southwest Jewelry Guide.
Oscar Branson’s 1975 book described Blue Diamond turquoise by its “stormy” matrix pattern. Every statement below is quoted or paraphrased from that book, with page numbers, so you can check each one. Branson wrote in 1975; anything he describes as current describes 1975, not today.
What Branson recorded
Branson (1975) described the pattern:
“It has brown to black matrix resembling a stormy pattern not unlike light and dark clouds being blown about in a blue sky.”
— Branson (1975), p. 42 [1]
According to Branson (1975, p. 42), the mine sat at high altitude and could not be worked in winter because of extreme cold and snow. [1]
According to Branson (1975, p. 36), the small Zuni Mine near Blue Diamond produced deep blue-green turquoise with a green overcast and was not being mined as of 1975. [1]
See all the turquoise mines we profile, including the other Nevada mines.
How this page is sourced. We strive for accuracy: every factual statement above is quoted from or credited to the printed work listed below, with page numbers, and this page is continuously updated with new information as we read more of our library. See something we should correct? Contact us.
Sources
- Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Santa Fe: Treasure Chest Publications, 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions in 1975.