Handmade Jewelry - Handmade Fox Turquoise Jewelry

It seems that everyone likes turquoise. Documented use of turquoise in the new world goes back as far as 900 B.C. Various Native American cultures ascribed different meanings and mythologies to turquoise. My favorite is that of the Rio Grande Pueblos who held that the color of the turquoise came from being stolen from the sky and preserved in stone.

A beautiful and rare variety of turquoise is Fox turquoise. Prior to commercial mining Native Americans in north central Nevada used Fox turquoise for centuries, and later the Anglos in the area used it as well. The Fox mine is in Lander County in Nevada and was heavily mined beginning in the early 1900s. The turquoise that came from the Fox mine was very hard, which is a desirable quality. The Fox mine was extremely productive for many years - it's been said that more turquoise came out of the Fox mine than all the other mines in Nevada put together. There were nuggets from the mine that were as big as a fist! These days the Fox mine produces almost no turquoise, just a little from time to time.

Fox mine turquoise ranges from rather dark blue to lighter blue to green. All Fox turquoise is considered rare. Green Fox turquoise, especially the foamy green turquoise, is extremely desirable and rare. It's a great investment in American history.