THIS LISTING IS ONLY FOR A PAIR OF EARRINGS!
Teardrop - 1¼” x ¾”
Some things are simply right. Two perfectly matched Kingman turquoise teardrops, each measuring 1¼” x ¾”, vivid sky blue from edge to edge the clean, saturated color that made Mineral Park the most recognized turquoise source in the American West. No matrix, no interruption. Just open blue, paired with the precision that only comes from finding two stones that came from the same pocket of the earth and decided to stay together.
The settings honor the stones and the tradition they belong to. A hand-twisted rope border runs the full perimeter of each teardrop bezel a detail that has framed Southwest turquoise for over a century and still earns its place every time. Oxidized .925 sterling silver deepens the contrast between the silver and the stone, making the blue read bluer and the rope read sharper. Sterling shepherd hooks keep the drop clean and the movement easy. At 1¼” these earrings wear with the effortless authority of pieces that know exactly what they are classic Southwest silverwork, matched stones, made by hand in Taos.
Details:
Stone: Kingman Turquoise · Origin: Arizona · Matrix: Turquoise & Tans · Metal: Custom Sterling Silver · Pendant Setting: 1¼” x ¾” · One of a Kind with Makers Mark
Made in Taos by a Taosena.
Some Jewelry is made. Some is found. At Fire & Stone, it's both.
Kingman Turquoise Earrings
The Kingman mine sits in Mineral Park, Mohave County in northwestern Arizona one of the oldest and most storied turquoise operations in North America. Archaeological evidence places turquoise mining at Kingman as far back as 1000 AD, when Ancestral Puebloan and Mojave peoples worked the deposit long before European contact. The mine has been in continuous or near-continuous production ever since, making it one of the longest-running turquoise sources on the continent.
What distinguishes Kingman turquoise is the exceptional range and consistency of its color a vivid, saturated blue that collectors and silversmiths have prized for generations. Kingman produces some of the bluest turquoise in the world, ranging from bright robin’s egg and sky blue to deeper Persian blue, often with a distinctive black, brown, or silver matrix that provides striking contrast against the stone’s saturated ground. The water web Kingman where fine silver and black matrix forms a delicate web across the surface of the stone is among the most coveted turquoise formations anywhere, sought by serious collectors and commanding significant premiums over unmarked material.
Kingman turquoise is natural and genuine the mine produces both stabilized material for the commercial market and high grade natural stones for collectors and artisan jewelers who insist on untreated material. The distinction matters. Natural Kingman holds its color without treatment, a testament to the mineral stability of the deposit and the quality of the stone coming out of the ground.
The Mineral Park mine has passed through several ownership periods over the decades and production has been inconsistent periods of active mining followed by closure, each reopening producing new material of sometimes dramatically different character. What comes out of Kingman today is not guaranteed to look like what came out twenty years ago. Each period of production has its own signature. This stone carries the Kingman name because it earned it in the ground, in the color, and in the hands of a Taoseña who knows the difference.
