Without a doubt most people think of Blue Turquoise when they think of Turquoise. Blue Turquoise was made famous by the Persians with their gorgeous Robin's Egg blue Turquoise that became a president and standard for gem quality Turquoise world wide. Countries all over the world began to search for the pure Blue Turquoise that Persia was producing. This beautiful baby blue did not come from most of the mines though. Chinese mines produced some, but most of the Chinese Turquoise material is more of a gray blue or aqua blue with a fair amount of matrix. America is famous for its"Blue Turquoise", most of which comes from the Arizona Turquoise Mines such as theBisbee Turquoise Mine, Castle Dome Turquoise mine, Kingman Turquoise Mine, Morenci Turquoise Mine, and the Sleeping Beauty Turquoise mine. Other Turquoise Mines in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada produce more Aqua Blue Turquoise and Green Turquoise then pure Blue Turquoise. Having said that, all of these states and the mines in them do produce Blue Turquoise, it is just not what they are famous for.

Most of the very highest grade Turquoise to collectors is the Spiderweb Turquoise, whether blue or green and that is what especially Nevada Turquoise Mines are famous for. Nevada's mines are also famous for the beautiful Nevada Green Turquoise, Chalcociderite, Faustite, and Variscite. These varieties of Turquoise and Phosphate family gems are outrageously beautiful and often harder, and produce more spiderweb material. Many people love the rare colors of Turquoise and other phosphate group gems such as the Lime Green Turquoise and Faustite, the mint green Turquoise, brown, yellow and white Turquoise. After all this, I must say, having experience in the Turquoise business since a child, there is one thing I always remember that my dad still preaches today, "Blue Turquoise is king". He says this due to the demand of this color of Turquoise by retail customers, and by demand of the Native American and Anglo artists we sell Turquoise to. John Hartman has sold Turquoise Jewelry, Turquoise Cabochons, and Turquoise Rough since the early 1970s to many well known artist and gallery owners.

Blue Turquoise Earrings

Ultra Rare Blue Wind Turquoise from Nevada in solid 14k Gold accented with natural 24k Gold Nuggets

Top grade natural Blue Turquoise from the Bisbee Turquoise Mine in Arizona in 14k Gold

A great example of a modern pendant with Sterling Silver and Spider Web Blue Turquoise from Tibet.

As previously mentioned Blue Turquoise Jewelry is king according to my John Hartman and many other old time traders and jewelry dealers, meaning that Blue Turquoise is the best seller and the most popular of Turquoise Jewelry. Most of the vintage Turquoise jewelry featured Blue Turquoise which if hard stayed blue through the ages. Alot of the old pawn jewelry or antique jewelry had softer Blue Turquoise that over time absorbed body oils, lotions, etc. and became a grease green color. Rare would artist make jewelry with green Turquoise stones in the old days. Occassionally an artist would use green Turquoise on a custom order, or if he or she loved the color, but back before the 2000s it was a risk to put green stones into the jewelry instead of the more popular blue stones. If you were to use Green Turquoise pre-2000s there was a great chance that the jewelry would sit around in your inventory for much, much longer then the Blue Turquoise Jewelry. For this reason, a lot of the miners left the green stones in the dumps at the mines searching for the more desireable blue material.

To the right is a great 14k gold pin pendant that is a great example of the creative Blue Turquoise Pendants being made today.

Today things have changed drastically. Many customer seek out the odd colors of Turquoise from the Lime Turquoise, Green Turquoise to Yellow Turquoise and Brown Turquoise. This has also caused miners to go back and sift the tailings piles at some of the old Turquoise mines looking for the off colored and more rare odd colored varieties. Many of the customers that buy the odd colored Turquoise varieties have grown up in the Southwest or other regions that love Turquoise and have seen way too much of the classic Blue Turquoise Jewelry and are tired of it. Now that the odd colored Turquoise Jewelry is in fashion you will see people that love the blue Turquoise jewelry wearing greens and other colors. With all of that said, it is still true that Blue Turquoise out sells Green Turquoise in most galleries and there for it is more come and considered classic.

To the right is a great example of classic Blue Turquoise Rings