The beauty of turquoise has made made it a popular gem since ancient times. It is said that turquoise is a color anyone can wear, and today it remains a favorite look for men and women alike.
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Turquoise has long been used in jewelry or decoration. It is traditionally found in Iran, the Sinai, the American Southwest, China and Australia.
While the most valued turquoise of the eastern world is found with uniform color and no matrix, in America and Mexico the matrix of brown or black veining is seen to bring beauty to the stones.
Turquoise is frequently found when mining for copper, and could have been considered a by-product when looking for metals. Nevada turquoise is more dense and more often found as nuggets than stones from Arizona. Because the pieces can be porous the stones may be stabilized with oils, waxes or resins. This will help keep them from changing color or disintegrating when exposed to light or cosmetics.
Sleeping Beauty Mine produced a clear blue and highly valued turquoise. The mine is not currently being worked, although there is rough stone stockpiled for future use.
While turquoise is frequently seen set in silver settings, those who work in gold will often seek the clear Sleeping Beauty stones for their jewelry.
Another famous American mine is called Kingman; a large mine in Arizona, it produced at least three distinct colors of turquoise, a very blue stone with black matrix, a green stone with brown matrix and a blue-green colored stone with a golden matrix.