I bought some wild looking Turquoise!

Just got this. A little over 900 carats. It was listed as Apache Blue. The nuggets sound lihe glass when clinked together. It looks like some animal ate some turquoise nuggets and pooped out some turquoise turds. My wife hates it, I on the other hand love It! So what do you think? And have you ever seen anything like this?

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It seems like Apache Blue is a newer Nevada mine owned by the Ottesons. I have had a few pieces in Darryl Dean Begay work, but they all had a black matrix. It also gets top dollar Collectors Corner #1.

I also have a pendant that was sold as Apache Blue but it doesn’t look much like the cabs on the nevadagem link. What do you think?

They are beautiful! They look like gem chrysocolla (gem silca). Looking at the Silver State Turquoise site my cabs look similar to the one in the ring.
http://www.silverstateturquoise.com/categories/Apache-Blue/
But some of theirs looks like Lander Blue.
Here is a bracelet by Darryl Dean Begay with a brown matrix stone.
2a7202-105_400x

$6000 wow! But that price is high because of his gorgeous work. I guess 50 cents a carat wasn’t that bad a price. I was afraid I had overpaid.

I will try and contact the Ottesons, they should know if this came from their mine. Looking back my cabs look like the turquoise inlaid in Bigbree43’s bracelet.

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Just an update, Tony Otteson graciously got back to me very quickly. This is what he had to say regarding my nuggets.

" Hey there. That chocolate matrix does not look right at all. Can you take a few different pictures in natural light tomorrow and let me see again? My initial reaction is “not even close”. But maybe if I can see a few different pics… We sold VERY little rough nuggets, and the majority of that went to artists that cut it."

I will send him some pictures tomorrow after work, but it does not look like these are Apache Blue.

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I think your wife is right, you should get rid of these. I’ll take them off your hands for you though :joy:
Seriously though, it’s some beautiful stuff. Even if it’s not what you thought it was, I think you have a treasure here

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Maybe check out the earlier post in this section called Favorite Inlay Cuff. One of the commentators said the stone is called Timberline Turquoise (Nevada Blue).

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Thanks Renee, good eye! I thought the same and put a
combined pic of both together a few replies back from yours.

You should turn a piece into a cab, that might reveal some clues.

There are 3 pieces that are already shaped into cabs. This one has a hole drilled through it.

Tony Otesson says they don’t look natural and he believes they are manufactured using resin or epoxy. I heated a pin red hot and poked several with it, but it would not penetrate or melt them. I told him I will be going to North Carolina at the end of June and that my friend who is a geologist has an XRF gun that we should be able to determine what they are made of.
Another friend who has been cutting turquoise for many years says it looks like old Villa Grove and sent me some links to the style he means. Today he also said maybe Indian mountain. I will be seeing him next weekend at a gem and bead show and will bring some for him to see.
The first 2 pics are what he thinks it is. The ring is by Happy Piasso, the cross by Darryl Becenti and the bracelet by Albert Jake

This next ring is Indian Mountain

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It is amazing how much your stuff looks like what is in the jewelry pictures. Keep us posted once you meet with the experts.

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That Bicenti cross though :heart_eyes:

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A long overdue update, sorry. I ended up giving a piece to one of my friends who sent it to a geologist he knows. He works out of a university, and says the composition is turquoise, limonite and concretous clay. He believes that although it could be American turquoise, it is similar to samples he has seen from the Sinai (Egyptian turquoise). But he says he is not an expert in turquoise, his specialty is jade.

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Durango Silver has a pendant out of Egyptian for sale. Give t a peek?

Different note, I have a necklace suite that has a very thin script signature. I think it is H Piasso. Do you have any contacts to pass on, as to how to contact? I’d love to make sure or not.

TIA

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I like these stones. I like the different pieces that come from different mines!

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It could easily be confused with red web Kingman.


Egyptian Turquoise

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This looks like Chinese Redskin…
Kachinacountry has some of this from the '70=80s

Just saw this on the Sunwest site:

Egyptian Prince Turquoise

My picture outside

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I’ve seen many Chinese turquoise look like that too. Both with brown or black matrix.