Blue Gem Turquoise Jewelry

Blue Gem Turquoise Jewelry for Sale

Here you will find our online inventory of jewelry for sale with turquoise from the Battle Mountain Blue Gem mine!

A lot of Blue Gem Turquoise jewelry was made over the years, but we just don’t see much any more!  Sadly, the mine has been closed down since around 1980. Native American jewelry artists have always valued Blue Gem turquoise for a number of reasons.  Blue Gem produced a variety of different blues & greens from which the jewelers could choose.  Blue Gem Turquoise was quite hard with vibrant colors (appealing to the eyes of jewelry artists!).  Turquoise from the Blue Gem mine was mostly ‘vein’ turquoise, and usually came out in smaller pieces; which made it perfect for Zuni inlay jewelry.  Interestingly, a lot of the old 1930’s Fred Harvey jewelry used Blue Gem Turquoise.

Importantly, jewelry with Blue Gem Turquoise will stand the test of time.  This hard & high-quality stone really keeps its color!  Your Blue Gem Turquoise Jewelry will look the same for generations to come.

Blue Gem Turquoise Mine

Blue Gem Turquoise is among the most collectible and highly valued turquoises to be found.  Although there were a number of different mines that, at some time or another, were named ‘Blue Gem’… it’s the ‘old’ Battle Mountain Blue Gem Turquoise that is SO beautiful and highly sought-after.  Located just a little South of Battle Mountain, in Nevada, the Blue Gem Turquoise mine produced a lot of different shades of blues & greens.  The intense colors of turquoise, including the prevalent vibrant blues, from this mine made the stone visually quite desirable… and since Blue Gem Turquoise is one of the hardest turquoises ever found, it was one of the most usable in jewelry as well.

First discovered in 1934 by Duke Goff, the Blue Gem Turquoise Mine was a very large producer of high-quality turquoise in the early days, and was owned by several different companies.  In 1941, the owner, Doc Wilson, had to shut down production due to a lack of miners. The onset of WWII saw many miners joining the armed services.  While production at the mine was shut down, eventually the lease was allowed to lapse, and work was completely abandoned.  However, around 1950, Lee Hand leased the claim, and production of turquoise at the Blue Gem mine again increased tremendously.  Around 1970, the Elquist family took over the mine.  Beautiful Blue Gem Turquoise was mined by the Elquists through the 1970’s, but is no longer.  Later, copper and gold were mined on this site.  —  Although quite a prolific producer during most of the time that the mine was operating, old Battle Mtn Blue Gem Turquoise is now rare and very difficult to obtain.

Unusually, the Blue Gem Turquoise Mine operated well beyond the surface-mining like that of most turquoise mines.  The Blue Gem mine also had a series of deep underground tunnels; some up to 800 feet underground.  This is HIGHLY unusual, and therefore noteworthy.

To this day, old Battle Mountain Blue Gem Turquoise is still some of the finest turquoise that mother-earth has ever created.  The vast majority of the turquoise found there was very very hard, high-grade ‘gem-quality’ material.  Due to Blue Gem’s awesome vibrant colors, outstanding quality, and ever-increasing scarcity, this turquoise is much sought-after and highly valued by collectors and lucky jewelers alike.  This is a valuable, historic, and quite rare turquoise.  Pretty much all remaining Blue Gem Turquoise is in museums or private collections today, rarely available for sale.  Old Battle Mountain Blue Gem Turquoise is highly collectible, and an unusual FUN find!