Kingman Turquoise

Kingman is historically known for its turquoise. The Mineral Park Mine, in the Cerbat Mountains 14 miles northwest of Kingman, was first mined by Indians centuries before white man came to the area. It is one of the three sites of prehistoric mining localities in the state of Arizona. Mineral Park was the most extensively worked area by the Indians of the three. S.A. “Chuck” Colbaugh found a cache of stone hammers uncovered in ancient trenches and tunnels, when he had the turquoise mining concession in May of 1962. Ithaca Peak and Turquoise Mine (formally called Aztec Mountain or Aztec Peak) are the most famous of the peaks in the area containing turquoise (colbaugh.net)

On a recent trip, I spent the morning with Marty Colbaugh (owner of the Kingman Turquoise mine). At the Kingman Turquoise mine there has been a recent find of very fine natural turquoise, with "bird's eye" matrix; sometimes the matrix is called "water web." ; sometimes "spiderweb." These terms describe the markings of the turquoise, and there are subtle differences between term.

I aquired some cabochons (stones that cut and polished) and some great raw stone (stone that is straight from the ground. Keep an eye out on my website for some exciting design featuring this rare find of turquoise.