Wholesale Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Gemstones
Unveiling the Story of Sleeping Beauty Turquoise: Arizona’s Most Iconic Gemstone
Sleeping Beauty Turquoise is a world-renowned gemstone, which has become synonymous with the word “turquoise.” It is recognized for its rich sky-blue color and lack of heavy matrix, making it a favorite of collectors worldwide. The gemstone occurs in nuggets with a soft white matrix, occasionally with small amounts of quartz or pyrite. However, over time, buyers started to prefer stones with matrix, and the matrix was often artificially darkened to give it higher contrast.
Sleeping Beauty Turquoise originates from Arizona and has humble beginnings. The Native Americans discovered the gemstone during the Anasazi times and mined it with hand tools, collecting little bits at a time. Sleeping Beauty Turquoise made its way to Pueblo Bonito, which served as a trade center for Anasazi Turquoise for North American Tribes, Central American Tribes, and South American tribes.
Since then, the Sleeping Beauty Mine was developed by Anglo peoples in search of copper and other metal ore. The turquoise was under contract by Monty Nichols, who is said to have “torn down a mountain” to find the famous Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, which is a figure of speech, not an actuality, to show how much work the miner has done to get the stone that has become an icon in the gem industry.
Today, Sleeping Beauty Turquoise is one of the most important turquoise mines in the world, and its gemstones are highly sought-after by jewelry designers and collectors. The unique story behind this iconic gemstone makes it even more valuable and cherished.
