Sacred Buffalo Turquoise  

     

        When Discovered in the Dry Creek Mine on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada in 1993, they were not sure what it was. Because of its hardness, it was decided to send it to have it assayed and their suspicions proved correct; it was in fact Turquoise. It was not until 1996 however that it was finally made into Jewelry.

         Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. Blue Turquoise forms when there is Copper present, which is the case with most Arizona Turquoises. Green Turquoise forms where Iron is present, the case with most Nevada Turquoises. Sacred Buffalo Turquoise forms where there are no heavy metals present, which turns out to be a very rare occurrence. The lack of any specific color consistency makes this stone distinctive and unique from other Turquoises. To date, no other vein of Turquoise has been discovered anywhere in the world. When this current vein runs out, that will be the last of it. Because this turquoise is so rare, the Indians have named it "Sacred Buffalo" Turquoise.

        The Shoshone Indians are not known for jewelry work and as consequence, the Shoshones sell or trade the Sacred Buffalo Turquoise to the Navajos in Arizona and New Mexico, who then work it into jewelry.

    So many geologic chains of events must synchronize to create just one thin vein of turquoise that the mineral can rightly be envisioned as a fluke of nature. Turquoise is the rare and improbable product of an incalculable number of chemical and physical processes that must take place in the right combination and proper environment over a time span of hundreds of thousands -if not millions- of years.

 

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