Bisbee Turquoise

Lavender Pit, Bisbee, Arizona

Arguably the most legendary American turquoise. Mined out of a copper pit decades ago and treasured ever since.

Where it comes from

Bisbee turquoise came out of the Lavender Pit copper mine in Bisbee, Arizona, mostly between the 1950s and 1974. It was always a byproduct of copper extraction, never the primary target. When the Lavender Pit shut down commercial copper operations, Bisbee turquoise supply effectively closed with it. Today's Bisbee comes from old miners' stashes and inherited collections, almost never from new ground.

What makes it distinctive

Deep, saturated electric blue, sometimes with green undertones, paired with a smoky chocolate-brown matrix that's almost impossible to fake. The host rock often shows subtle red iron tints. Bisbee runs hard and dense by modern standards, which is part of why finished pieces hold their finish for generations.

How to identify it

Look for the chocolate matrix first. It should be warm brown with depth, not flat black. The blue should read as electric or vivid rather than washed out. Any genuine Bisbee cabochon at market today should come with some kind of provenance story. Prices reflect the rarity, often multiples of comparable Kingman or Royston material of similar size.