The Bisbee Turquoise Mine south of Tucson, Arizona was originally founded in the 1870’s as a huge copper mine.
In 1950, the Phelps Dodge Company was mining copper, when in an area of the mine called “The Lavender Pit” they found turquoise. Today, this rare bright blue turquoise is known in the trade as Bisbee Turquoise.
Bisbee Turquoise
However, mining at Bisbee did not include mining for gemstones during its commercial mining phase.
Any Turquoise or other gemstone materials were discarded by the Phelps Company, and prohibited to be taken out by the minors due to liability reasons until 1972.
Most of this Turquoise was hauled off to an area where they dumped their waste and over burdens from the mining project.
However, plenty of the brilliant blue stone was carried home by miners as ‘lunch bucket rocks.’
Individual Minors recognized the beauty of the Bisbee Turquoise and would sneak small amounts of the Turquoise out in their lunch boxes and/or what ever other means they could muster.
It was not long after Bisbee Turquoise was discovered in the Mine that it was introduced to the Southwestern Jewelry Industry. By the early 1960’s, Bisbee Turquoise had become the finest Turquoise the market had ever seen and demand for it went through the roof.
When the Bisbee Mine was closed in 1975, it had become the largest and richest mine the world has ever known.
Taking out over 8,000,000,000 pounds of copper, this mine was given the nickname “The Copper Queen.” The Bisbee Mine also produced nearly 3,000,000 ounces of Gold, 77,000,000 ounces of Silver and billions of pounds of lead and zinc!
The Bisbee Mine also produced a variety of outstanding minerals including Malichite, Azurite and of course Turquoise, which are all by-products of the metals and minerals that are native to this Mine.
Bob Matthews of Durango, CO was the only person who was ever given a lease to mine the brilliant blue Bisbee stone, but in the couple of years he had to work the claim, less than 2,000 lbs of high-grade turquoise stone was recovered.
Due to mining restrictions and the cost of recovering the Bisbee Turquoise from the dumps, turquoise mining slowed down and ended by 1980.
In 1980, legal Turquoise mining of the site ended, and the mine was covered over. With so little of the turquoise stone ever recovered, it is truly hard to find genuine Bisbee, and it is an expensive stone due to its rarity, high-quality and unique color and matrix.
The matrix can be wispy looking, these special stones are referred to as “Smoky Bisbee.” Defined by high-quality hardness (for turquoise), vibrant blue color and a chocolate matrix, Bisbee Turquoise is rarer than diamonds, and a collectors prize.
Bisbee Turquoise is one of the most beautiful types of Turquoise that has ever been taken out of the ground in North America. It’s striking true blue color ranges are spectacular and the chocolate matrix that the Turquoise is found in, extentuates it’s beauty. It has it’s own unusual charicteristics that are unique only to this one turquoise.
Only small amounts of Bisbee Turquoise have surfaced since 1980, and this has been from Mine Robbers that sneak into the guarded Mine late at night to hunt for bits and pieces of this fine mineral, Bisbee Turquoise!
There is very little Bisbee Turquoise available today, and due to it’s rarity and exceptional beauty, it is very valuable.
Durango Silver Company had the great fortune to purchase the remaining collection of Bob Matthews and his partner Cecil Michelson, in 2002.