Royal Blue Turquoise: Field Guide to Nevada's 1,200-Pound-a-Month Mine
Start with the thing most listings get wrong: "Royal Blue" is first of all a colour, and only secondly a mine. Oscar Branson, writing about the ideal colour of turquoise, records that the authorities agree the finest colour is called "Royal Blue" — and adds, in parentheses, that this is not especially a reference to the Royal Blue Mine.1 He is quoting the trader Lee Hand, who held that wherever it is found, from Nevada to the Sinai, royal blue turquoise is essentially identical and there is none finer.1
So a stone described as "royal blue" may be a colour grade, a mine attribution, or a seller blurring the two. That ambiguity is the single most useful thing to carry into a purchase.
From the Library: Pogue on the Royal Blue (1915)
1915 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1915, not today.
According to Pogue (1915, p. 48), the Royal Blue mine lay in Nye County in southwestern Nevada, about twelve and a half miles north-northwest of Millers. [6]
Pogue (1915) recorded the mine's ownership:
“It was owned and operated for several years by William Petry, of Los Angeles, and sold in 1907 to the Himalaya Mining Co., under whose ownership it has been actively exploited.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 48 [6]
Writing in 1915, Pogue described the workings:
“The deposits lie upon the eastern scarp of a plateau at an elevation of about 5,400 feet, and have been worked by a series of tunnels, shafts, and open cuts.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 48 [6]
Pogue's 1915 verdict on the stone:
“The choicest stones are probably equal to any produced in America, and the matrix also is especially fine. Some of the veins and nuggets are stained with limonite along seams and cracks in such manner as to produce most pleasing patterns and contrasts of color when cut.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 49 [6]
From the Library: Branson, Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries (1975)
1975 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1975, not today.
Branson's own words on the date, from 1975:
“The Royal Blue Mine was discovered in 1902 and has been producing turquoise off and on ever since.”
— Branson (1975), p. 21 [7]
As of 1975, Branson (1975, p. 21) reported that the Royal Blue had begun as one of the old tunnel mines but, with big machinery, had by then become largely an open pit. [7]
From the Library: Chambless & Ryan, Turquoise in America, Part One (2021)
2021 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2021, not today.
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 158), after about a year the Workmans sold the Royal Blue to William Petry for $2,500; Petry had been the lapidary for George Simmons and the Toltec Gem Mining Company at Crescent Peak. [3]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) date the sale to the Himalaya company precisely:
“On November 14, 1908, Petry sold the Royal Blue as well as the Azure Blue, Corona Turquoise, Oriental Blue, and the Justice Fraction to the Himalaya Mining Company through its representative Lippman Tannenbaum, under agreement for transfer to be completed after installment payments.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 158 [3]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) continue:
“Tannenbaum took the title in his own name and on May 24, 1910, he transferred the entire group into the name of the Himalaya Mining Co for consideration of $1.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 158 [3]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 158), the mine was worked hard in 1908 and 1909 under Tannenbaum's nephew Julius Goldsmith, who built a home for himself and his wife and a separate cabin for sorting the turquoise; Petry later claimed the Royal Blue produced over $5 million worth of turquoise. [3]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 160), no one paid the $500 property tax assessed to Petry, so the property reverted to the county in 1910 and stayed with the county treasurer until 1915; after L. Tannenbaum and Co. declared bankruptcy in August 1910, Goldsmith left and the mine ceased operations. [3]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 165), William L. Miller, acquitted by reason of insanity of the 1903 killing of George Simmons, moved to Tonopah, went into partnership with Petry working the Royal Blue, paid the back taxes to obtain the claim and sold it back to Petry in 1915. [3]
On the "Tiffany mine" label, Chambless & Ryan (2021) are direct:
“This is especially true in the ongoing association of Tiffany with Nevada turquoise, although it is clear neither Charles L. Tiffany nor Tiffany and Co. ever had any investment in turquoise mining in Nevada other than they may have purchased turquoise produced from these mines.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 160 [3]
C.T. Johnson, interviewed in 1976 and quoted by Chambless & Ryan (2021), explained how the label spread:
“If a person had ever sent a piece of turquoise to Tiffany's in New York, why it automatically would become a Tiffany mine.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 161 [3]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 189), William Petry and W.L. Miller bought the Royal Blue claim in 1915 after the county treasurer had held it in receivership for back taxes since 1911; after a few years they sold to Bert Kopenhaver and Lee Hand, and Kopenhaver's half passed through Charley Bona to Hand. [3]
Petry later claimed the mine had yielded $5 million in cut stones; Chambless & Ryan (2021) respond:
“This is a bit of a stretch as production from comparable mines during The Great American Turquoise Rush was based upon wholesale returns.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 190 [3]
From the Library: Lowry, Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone (2010)
2010 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2010, not today.
According to Lowry (2010, p. 226), the Royal Blue site was the largest of the Royston district's deposits. [5]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 220), the Number Eight claims in Eureka County were also known as Royal Blue, Royal Blue No. 1 and Blue Star, a separate use of the same name. [5]
From the Library: Ryan & Chambless, Turquoise in America Part Two: 1910–1990 (2020)
2020 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2020, not today.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 64), the Himalaya company's investment at the Royal Blue under Julius Goldsmith was justified by production reports that at times exceeded 1,200 pounds a month. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 64), while Tannenbaum's company was mining the Royal Blue, the German-born Los Angeles gem man Oscar Weyrand (1868-1914) worked an adjacent claim and advertised in the Los Angeles Times a producing Nevada turquoise mine for sale or lease. As of 2020 that claim was named the Carmelita and was owned by co-author Philip Chambless with Helen and Richard Shull. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 77), Petry and Miller worked the claim to some degree after 1915, under an arrangement with the Hudson Mining and Milling Company, a Salt Lake City silver company incorporated in 1921 by the Walker brothers. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 76), Hand and Kopenhaver leased the Royal Blue from Petry and worked it before buying the mine; Kopenhaver then sold his half to Charles Bona, who sold to Ted Johnson, and Johnson said he worked it for four years before selling to Hand, giving Hand total ownership. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 77), Morrissey dated these sales to 1936 and 1940, matching Johnson's account, yet an April 26, 1932 newspaper reported that Kopenhaver and Palfreyman had surrendered temporarily to the depression, which had reduced the demand for gem stones, and turned their interest over to Lee Hand. [8]
Ryan & Chambless (2020) on those competing dates:
“These conflicting reports demonstrate the discrepancies that make precisely assigning dates difficult.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 77 [8]
A 1937 list of Nevada turquoise properties reproduced by Ryan & Chambless (2020) recorded:
“Royal Blue, Royston district, Nye County (Esmeralda), owned by Lee F. Hand and Charles A. Bona.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 88 [8]
Bill King recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 149), that when the two patented claims at Royston came up for sale, his grandfather Hubert Smith and his uncle Odell Smith borrowed $2,500 from a bank against the claims, bought them, and sold them two or three months later for $50,000. [8]
Tom Otteson recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 151), that his father, Lynn Otteson, had mined the Royston claims until Ralph Swafford died, and around 1966 or 1967 stepped aside for the Smiths when they asked that the family get the claims, though he had the $2,500 to buy them. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 142), Ray C. Wilcox became sole owner of the Royal Blue Mining Company, which held the claims through the 1980s; after his death his estate leased the Royal Blue Patent and 94 unpatented claims to John Martin on August 31, 1987, for monthly payments, a 20% royalty on turquoise and an option to buy for $52,000. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 142), in June and July 1990 Ray C. Wilcox Jr. and the other Wilcox heirs deeded the Royal Blue patent and 94 unpatented claims to John Martin, each keeping a royalty interest. [8]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 142), after 1992 BLM rules limited the small-miner exemption to 10 claims, Martin deeded parts of the Royston claims to several Tonopah people in 1993, with himself as their agent; even so, the filing deadline on the Royston claims was missed six years later, and in 1999 the ground opened for relocation. [8]
According to the mine glossary in Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 342), several Royston District claims, among them Best Chance, Bulldozer, Golden Eagle, Jowiroha and Little Bill, were included in Patent 4414 near Royal Blue. [8]
The mine glossary in Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 343) places the Bunker Hill Mine half a mile north of Royal Blue in the Royston District. [8]
From the Library: Woodward, A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing (1946)
1946 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1946, not today.
In his 1938 list of Nevada mines supplying the Indian trade, Woodward (1946) placed it:
“Royal Blue, thirty miles north of Tonopah.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 45 [9]
Field Notes by Mateo James
The mine itself is real and well documented. It sits in the Royston district of Nevada, and Branson identifies it as the district's main producer.1 Schiffer places it the same way: the Royston area's Royal Blue mine, discovered in 1902, producing dark green and blue stones with brown matrix.2
I notice the two books disagree on the Royal Blue's early ownership. Pogue (1915) says Petry sold it to the Himalaya Mining Company in 1907 and that Himalaya was then working it; Chambless & Ryan (2021) give the sale as November 14, 1908, with the group transferred into the company's name on May 24, 1910, and then have the claim in tax receivership from 1911 until Petry and Miller bought it in 1915. I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
The date is genuinely contested — and we are not going to resolve it for you
Two respectable sources give two different origin dates, and they cannot both be precisely right.
- 1902. Schiffer states the Royston area's Royal Blue mine was discovered in 1902.2 Branson likewise treats it as one of the older tunnel mines of that era.1
- Late March 1903. Chambless and Ryan are more specific than either: "In late March 1903, [two prospectors] of Tonopah, Nevada located the Royal Blue about eight miles north of Crow Springs on the western slopes of what they referred to as Quartzite Mountain."3 One of the two locators is named U.G. Workman.
Chambless and Ryan give a month, a distance, a direction and named locators — the texture of a primary record such as a claim filing. That does not automatically overrule the other sources. The two accounts may not even conflict: district activity in 1902 and this particular claim located in 1903 would reconcile them. We present both, attributed, rather than quietly picking the tidier one.
"Tiffany" and the economics of a good name
The naming problem around this mine is not new, and it was not accidental. Chambless and Ryan quote C.T. Johnson, who later worked the Royal Blue and was closely associated with Lee Hand from the 1920s on, from a 1976 interview. Johnson's verdict, on the habit of attaching a prestigious name to turquoise from anywhere: "Tiffany was the most abused name for turquoise mines in the west."4
The incentive he is describing — maximizing a brand name for marketing purposes — is exactly the incentive operating on the phrase "Royal Blue" today. A century apart, same mechanism.
One more name collision
"Royal Blue" has also served as a former name of the Number Eight mine, according to Lowry and Lowry.5 So a historical reference to "Royal Blue" material is not guaranteed to point at the Royston-district mine described on this page. When a name is doing three jobs — a colour grade, a Nevada mine, and a disused name for a different Nevada mine — the name alone cannot carry an attribution.
Collector's Handbook
Ask which sense is meant. "Royal blue" as a colour grade is a legitimate descriptive use documented in the literature.1 "Royal Blue" as a mine attribution is a claim about origin. A seller should be able to say which one they are making.
Treat the origin date as contested. 1902 per Schiffer and the older-tunnel-mine framing in Branson;21 late March 1903 per Chambless and Ryan, who name locators and a location.3 A listing that states either date as settled fact is going further than the sources.
Remember the Number Eight collision. "Royal Blue" was also a former name for the Number Eight mine.5
Prestige names attract abuse — this is documented, not cynical. A man who actually worked this mine said as much about "Tiffany" in 1976.4
We strive for accuracy. This field guide entry is compiled from the published references cited below and is continuously updated with new information from the artists, their families, and the community. Hold a claim record or documentation that settles the 1902/1903 question? Get in touch — corrections are welcomed and credited.
Sources
- Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Treasure Chest Publications, Santa Fe, 1975. The colour-of-turquoise discussion, in which the ideal colour is called "Royal Blue" with the explicit parenthetical that this is not especially a reference to the Royal Blue Mine, quoting Lee Hand; and the Royston district entry identifying the Royal Blue as the district's main producer and one of the older tunnel mines. Cited without page numbers: the text is paraphrased rather than quoted verbatim and no page is asserted.
- Schiffer, Nancy N. Turquoise Jewelry, revised 4th edition, 2008. Printed pp. 11–12 (the Royston area's Royal Blue mine, discovered 1902; dark green and blue stones with brown matrix). This passage falls between the printed folios 11 and 12, so it is cited as a span rather than pinned to one page.
- Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush 1890–1910. Callais Press, 2021. Printed p. 157 (the late-March 1903 location of the Royal Blue about eight miles north of Crow Springs, western slopes of Quartzite Mountain; U.G. Workman of Tonopah among the locators).
- Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One. Callais Press, 2021. Printed p. 161 (C.T. Johnson, interviewed 1976, who later worked the Royal Blue and was associated with Lee Hand from the 1920s: "Tiffany was the most abused name for turquoise mines in the west").
- Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2010. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2010.
- Pogue, Joseph E. The Turquois: A Study of Its History, Mineralogy, Geology, Ethnology, Archaeology, Mythology, Folklore, and Technology. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. XII, Part II, Third Memoir. Washington, 1915. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1915.
- Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Santa Fe: Treasure Chest Publications, 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1975.
- Ryan, Mike, II, and Philip Chambless. Turquoise in America, Part Two: 1910–1990. Callais Press, 2020. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2020.
- Woodward, Arthur. A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing. With field notes by Richard Van Valkenburgh. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 14, 2d ed. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, December 1946 (first edition 1938). Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1946.
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