Sleeping Beauty Turquoise
The Globe, Arizona area has large copper deposits, which gives Sleeping Beauty turquoise its distinctive blue hue. Sleeping Beauty turquoise is uniform in color compared to the range that most mines produce. It also features little to no matrix, also a unique quality. The bright medium blue color of Sleeping Beauty makes it very popular for cluster, needlepoint, and inlay artists. These artists can depend on a uniform blue color across their design, allowing for their design to star instead of the turquoise.
The uniformity of Sleeping Beauty turquoise has one more effect: it is easy to make “Sleeping Beauty” block (plastic) turquoise. Cheaper cluster designs on other sites will often use that medium blue block plastic, instead of real turquoise.
Buy Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Mine
Sleeping Beauty turquoise mine is located just outside the town of Globe, in southern Arizona.
The Sleeping Beauty turquoise mine is located just outside the town of Globe, in southern Arizona. Intensive copper mining in the area throughout the 20th century uncovered large amounts of turquoise deposits. In fact, mine owner Monty Nichols cited a production amount of 1,600 lbs per month, at the mine’s peak. However, Sleeping Beauty turquoise is one of the softer stones on the market, and much of it must be stabilized before it can be used in jewelry.