Revival or original?

This squash blossom is :star_struck:

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It doesn’t remind me quite as much in this second pic. Here are the stones that were in my mom’s earrings. I circled the one that made me think of your stone.

I really have no idea on the mine; we discussed it once here, and thought possibly Fox, and I had always wondered what turquoise was used in the '40s. But I just recently looked with a magnifying glass, and can see a little pyrite in one of the stones, and I don’t know if Fox is known to have that, so it will stay a mystery. The color of it looks so much like your stone in the first picture that you posted. I’m always curious!

Both these earring pairs originally had screw backs which I replaced with posts.

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I see what you mean…in true light mine is not that dark, although the photo certainly looks looked similar. So I’m just wondering if pyrite is found in Nevada mines (Fox, Carico lake, Royston, No. 8, Godber Burnham, Lone mountain, Pilot Mountain, etc, etc…even Blue gem). Of the top of my head the only mines I know producing turquoise with pyrite are in Arizona. Now I’ll probably be proven wrong :laughing:.

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Wow, thank you so much for all of these references. I’m learning so much from all of you. :heart_eyes:

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I see more googling in my future…:laughing:

And I have no idea which state the stones are from, just that mom bought them in New Mexico.

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I have a picture of my mom sitting on the ground across from the San Miguel Church in Santa Fe; she was sketching it. The road was DIRT. Imagine that!

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I haven’t been in this business very long, but I have never seen any NV stone with pyrite, AZ only, and I think a few from other countries, if I’m not mistaken.

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That’s what I was thinking. I have read Chinese turquoise can have pyrite, but I would bet money that is NOT what these are considering their age and how they look. I guess I’ll have to keep researching into what turquoise was most likely used in the '40s. Since they are mine, it’ll prob be Kingman :laughing: (we have an ongoing joke about this). But gosh, they just don’t have a Kingman feel to me.

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A while back, I was researching Hosteen Goodluck. These three photos were taken at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. As you can see Hosteen’s necklace has 4-pedal blossoms and I wouldn’t be surprised if he made. What’s touching to me is they’re all wearing the same necklace - showing they all knew each other and were sharing the necklace for their individual photograph. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Anyone with the last name of Goodluck has to have 4 petals. I wonder if they are ancestors to Teddy Goodluck. I have one of his belt buckles and it’s my favorite.

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huh,interesting coincedence…antiques roadshow( repeat from 2007) tonight shows a circa 1910 necklace w/4 petals

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I don’t know what the ongoing joke about Kingman is here, but when my vendor does not know the provenance of the stone, he always says “Kingman”. Then I have to ask “real Kingman” or just “Kingman”. He grins every time I ask him that. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Oh no, I missed it. Darn. :frowning:

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Love these photos. :heart_eyes:

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The joke is on me. I often guess Kingman when people ask what their turquoise might be. Truth is Kingman is the most prolific American turquoise mine, and in general if we don’t know what something is, it’s a good bet that it’s Kingman; I often refer to it as the great imitator. I actually really like Kingman Turquoise. One of my prettiest pieces of turquoise is a big piece of natural birdseye Kingman. I also have a ring with a gorgeous piece of natural Ithaca Peak Turquoise, which is part of the Kingman mining operations.

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it’s on youtube…around the 45 min mark

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Lol. You and my vendor would have some good laughs identifying stones. :crazy_face:
Talking about Ithaca Peak, would you say that it tends to have more and larger (almost geometrical) pieces of pyrite instead of the usual specks? As of lately, all of the Ithaca Peak cabochons I have seen have a ton of pyrite, but they look like a shiny piece of metal embedded in them. They were being sold by the same people, so maybe that’s why. Your thoughts?

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You are awesome! Thank you for sharing. I will look it up tonight. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

So I wasn’t as familiar with Ithaca Peak till I bought the ring. IMO it does not have the classic look. It has very little pyrite, but the gold bits sparkle in the sun. But I bought it at the very highly respected Eiteljorg Western Art Museum during their annual Indian Art Market. I purchased the ring directly from a respected Navajo artist who said it was Ithaca Peak, and I do not doubt him. He had a number of pieces with Ithaca Peak. If I remember correctly, he told me he bought it from the mine owners. It’s a very tightly webbed stone.

I would like to add that if I was selling any of my jewelry, which I’m not, I don’t buy anything that I don’t intend to keep, I would never sell it as Kingman unless I had documentation. So in that respect I may be different than your boss. I hope he is not stating that stones are from a particular mine when he’s not sure. I prefer sellers to be completely upfront and honest about what they have. I’m fine if they say where they THINK it might be from, and I do not hold it against anyone when they tell me they don’t know.

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Here’s an example of the Ithaka Peak I’ve been finding lately. I’ve heard some may have a web, but these are the cabochons I see the most for sale, hence my previous question. I guess, just like Kingman these stones can look very different. Or some folks are identifying them incorrectly.