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[Itsandbits]

A friend of mine gave this to me after a trip she took to Nevada about 40 years ago. She found it in the desert while being shown around by one of the locals and told me a funny story about how she found it but it's x rated so I'll keep it to myself LOL

[MrsWTownsend]

I have zero idea of any specific name other than turquoise, but I found this page with a general history of turquoise in Nevada that I thought was kind of cool.  :)

History and Origins of Nevada Turquoise

[iceopals]

Hi,
I thought maybe there might be a Nevada miner among the masses, still might, and they might be out mining!   There is almost no way to know with your turquoise.  If there was a lot of distinctive matrix then possibly some very educated guesses could be made.   The sample you show has very little to distinguish it other than it is a lovely blue, and that is true of much of the turquoise mined in Nevada as well as many of the other southwestern states.   Even with a very distinctive look most reputable dealers will only say "it could be either blank or blank or blank".  It certainly is pretty!   

[Itsandbits]

thanks; I was beginning to think everyone had gone to dig a cave and hibernate LOL. it does have very small black matrix lines but all round is fairly solid; not crumbly, you can tell by the sand polished surface. It's too big to hang in one chunk so I am debating cutting it; I had a 27lb piece of BC green nephrite from the same era that I took 2 lbs off recently too so I am getting vicious in my old age.

[PhilNM]

Where abouts did you find it. That might help us tell you the closest mines.

[Itsandbits]

"A friend of mine gave this to me after a trip she took to Nevada about 40 years ago. "
She went down gambling and took day/night trips out from there somewhere, within 200 miles, not in a mine, as you can see it is weather polished.

[PhilNM]

Within 200 miles of some place she went gambling. Hmmm. That narrows it down to maybe 70 or more mines. As far as weather polished, well, I've never found a turquoise nugget on the surface that was polished like that unless it was a plant for me to find. Perhaps her friends were "helping" her find a nugget..... There is absolutely no way to identify what mine based on this info. Perhaps she should ask her friends now that some time has passed.....  Sorry....

[Itsandbits]

no problem, I will accept the story of how and where it was found at face value and I can assure you it wasn't a "plant" but if you want to think that it's fine, I just thought someone would recognize the stone... maybe someone will recognize it in the future. 

[iceopals]

Shoot.   Recognize it?   Sure!   It's mine!   I dropped it, really I did!   Right there, where whoever found it!       Serious collectors could show you dozens that look just like it from dozens of mines.   Go ahead, slice it up and enjoy! 

[Itsandbits]

I can tell by the colours from a lot of the mined stuff that it isn't from their deposite; this was found as free float in the desetrt and as I said before, not mined, but there are a couple of localities that have a similar look. I am not a turquoise officiando though although this is a nice solid untreated piece that I will probably keep this way and like I said; someone will see it and be able to give me an area; the giver died a few years ago so unless I consult a psychic I will need to depend on someone nice enough to actually point in a direction.   

[Enchantra]

Find yourself a good gemologist local to you who can test it for you and compare it to other examples of turquoise.  That would be your best bet at getting something close to a possible location or mine area it might be from.

[Itsandbits]

Enchantra LOL thanks lol