This gigantic Turquoise nugget is one of the largest ever found. Weighing in at a huge 97 pounds, this surreal piece features a light blue glossy band cutting across the piece of otherwise greenish-blue Turquoise. The surface texture is extremely intricate with an abundance of crevices and crenellations. Discovered in 1979, the nugget is one of the three largest ever found in the World. The fine color is all natural with no treatment, and it shows excellent hardness for Turquoise. In form and color, it is arguably better than a slightly larger piece currently on display in Sedona, Arizona. The other contender of the three was carved into a sculpture and currently resides in an exhibit at the J. W. Cooper Gallery in the Time Warner Building in New York City. The custom stand is composed of wood and metal. The base appears to be of South-Western Mesquite or Ironwood which helps to enhance the thematic impact of the specimen. This exquisite piece is remarkable in size. The nugget measures 22″ in. (56 cm) x 18 in. (46 cm) x 8 in. (20 cm). It mounts on a wooden stand that is 12 in. (30.5 cm) tall making the total height of the piece on the stand 34 in. (86 cm).
Recovered in 1986 from the now-closed Cananea Copper Mine in Senora Mexico, this 97-pound turquoise nugget represents one of the richest ore finds in the history of Mexican copper mining. It’s natural color and hardness has been enhanced to reflect a stone second to none including the famed Arizona Kingman Copper Mine turquoise digs of late. One of the oldest copper mines in the world with a startup date of 1899, the Cananea mine had produced tons of high-grade turquoise rough up through 2010 at its closing. Even so, to our knowledge as well as many noted experts, this huge turquoise nugget is the only one of its size available on the world markets today. As the future artist of this stone, I’m going to try and explain in simple terms why this stone is so rare and why you will most likely never see another come out of any copper mines like it.
My first question is have you ever seen a turquoise nugget like this in your lifetime? Ninety-nine and a half percent of you are saying no. Right? Don’t feel bad Winston has been carving and collecting turquoise for 40 years now and says he has seen only one larger in a carving from the Philippines carved by several of their natives that weighted over 120 pounds. Carving was just something out of this world but the stone really fell short in quality compared to the carving.
