Im looking to see if anyone can help me identify the turquoise in this necklace.
This is a Les Baker necklace, 1970’s more than likely.
The spiderweb and color is really difficult to identify
3 Likes
Top one looks like spider web Kingman or even Chinese turquoise. But the bottom looks like a different mine, although still maybe Kingman? Any pyrite in the bottom stone? Very pretty.
2 Likes
Very nice! I would guess Hubei for the top and Bisbee for the bottom piece. But could be from many different mines.
4 Likes
Thanks for the input! The pin is bisbee turquoise 
The necklace my father told me was “lander or lone mountain, something with an L” before he passed, but I’m still not certain. It does look like spiderweb kingman to me, or even number 8. The matrix doesnt appear to have pyrite in it, and only one little spot looks more brown or red than black. I’ve also got these done by Les at the same time.
1 Like
The stone in the necklace sure looks like Lander Blue. Check out similar stones at nevadagem.com. Unfortunately, without documentation of some sort, it could be another mine. You might get closer with research of the maker.
Check out my buckle in Blue Winds Lander Blue Little Bert King Belt Buckle & History. I’m confident the stones are Lander Blue especially with the original 1970s stickers and the research done by @Steve .
Um, I highly doubt this is Lander Blue. Considering it is the rarest turquoise, and hardly any was mined, I wouldn’t say it is without exact documentation. Hubei turquoise is known to imitate Lander Blue, and be sold as Lander Blue wrongly.
From the Perry Null website…
Matrix color doesn’t seem right for Number 8. I don’t know about Lone Mountain. I have a buckle with Lone Mountain, but it doesn’t have as intensive webbing as this piece, and I haven’t seen a lot of Lone Mountain in person.
So if you know the other is Bisbee, were you testing us 
2 Likes
@Ziacat Lol, no testing! The pin happened to be in the picture and i couldn’t cut it out when I posted. Thats why i was Specifically asking about the necklace
1 Like
I see now you were specifically asking about the necklace. And it does look like Bisbee.
1 Like
@StevesTrail thanks! I do know it was made by Les Baker in the 1970’s, possibly early 1980’s’s because i contacted the last store with makers trained by him. They said if another maker had helped him or made it for his store they would have also put their marks on the pieces, but thats not the case here and these were Les pieces. I did ask about the stone in the necklace but they said they didn’t know for sure on the stone.
@Steve thanks for the great side by side on these! I thought this looked more like lone mountain than lander, but they are so similar! Im going to have to sit down and do some more research and comparison, but I think lone mountain may come out the winner on this one. My father did say it was either lander or lone mountain
1 Like
Actually, it depends on the lighting to be honest. Part of me says the right, but it’s really difficult to say, depending on how you hold it.
when the photo was taken was the background gray or white?
@Steve Here’s the pendant with lighting adjusted. Countertop is white quartz.
“Blue Winds” mine was about 2 miles northeast of the Lander mine and was rumored to rival Lander Blue. However, no one to my knowledge has ever produced a verifiable piece of Blue Winds turquoise. Who knows, maybe there was some midnight mining at the Lander Blue mine back in the day.
1 Like
That would be a cool story wouldnt it? Thanks for all the info Steve!
Apparently there a lot of sellers on Etsy who have done secret mining of Lander Blue.
3 Likes
It may just be a mystery. Does look like some Lone Mountain, but I still think it resembles Chinese Hubei and black web Kingman. @Jason what do you think?
1 Like
I agree with @Ziacat & @markyboy57 that the turquoise in the necklace resembles Chinese turquoise. Either Hubei or Cloud Mountain is my guess. I can’t even go with Kingman on this one. Just my 2 cents…
2 Likes