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A Field Guide to Southwest Jewelry · by Mateo James

Kingman Turquoise: Field Guide to Arizona's Most Active Mine

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Kingman turquoise comes from the Cerbat Mountains of Mohave County, Arizona, mined at elevations around 3,300 feet across two main areas — Aztec Peak (Turquoise Mountain) and Ithaca Peak. It is still produced commercially, making it one of the few American mines with an unbroken production tradition from the 1890s rush into the present day.

Mateo's Field Notes

The Mineral Park / Kingman district has a documented commercial history stretching back to 1900, when the Aztec Turquoise Company incorporated on June 29 of that year with Joseph Doty and James Haas as principals. Within months, Doty was shipping twenty-five pounds of rough per week; the Southwest Turquoise Company set up a competing operation at Ithaca Peak during the same period. George Bell was the lapidary cutting material from both areas during the rush. (CHAMBLESS ~lines 7500–8000)

The modern chapter of Kingman's history was written by Leonard W. Hardy. According to Joe Dan and Joe P. Lowry's account in Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone, the Duval Corporation's open-pit mining operations leased the turquoise rights to Hardy, who marketed Kingman aggressively through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s under the trade names Kingman, Ithaca Peak, and Turquoise Mountain. Since then, the Colbaugh family has controlled these claim rights for several generations. (LOWRY ~lines 11859–11894)

Hardy's name connects Kingman to a larger story in American turquoise. The stabilization process that transformed the commercial turquoise market originated, per Lowry, "on the sunporch of an unknown old man's home, which was located on a hillside above Globe, Arizona" — where "Leonard Hardy and several others were introduced to 'soak treating' turquoise." The original method placed chalk turquoise in a stainless steel pan with electrodes and petrochemicals, then passed current through to impregnate the stone. (LOWRY ~lines 9820–9870) Kingman's abundant soft material made it a primary candidate for this process. A contemporary rush-era assessment noted the stone's copper-forward character: "Hence the principal detriment to the Turquoise, too much copper" — explaining the tendency toward green tones that stabilization and dyeing could correct. (CHAMBLESS ~line 7980)

What Hardy built was both a market and a method: the most active producing mine in Arizona paired with the industrial process that made borderline material commercially viable. For collectors today, understanding Kingman means holding both facts at once.

Collector's Handbook: How to Recognize Kingman Turquoise

  • Color tells: The corpus notes a copper-rich geological profile that can push the stone toward green tones. Marketed under multiple trade names — Kingman, Ithaca Peak, Turquoise Mountain — so documentation of the specific marketing name may aid authentication.
  • Matrix tells: Not explicitly described in the corpus texts consulted. The multiple trade names suggest stone character varied by claim area.
  • Natural vs. treated notes: Stabilization has a direct documented connection to Kingman: Leonard Hardy, who marketed Kingman, is the same individual documented by Lowry as a pioneer of soak-treating chalk turquoise in Globe, Arizona. (LOWRY ~lines 9820–9870) Assume a significant portion of commercially available Kingman is stabilized unless documentation states otherwise.
  • Mine status: Active — Colbaugh family controls claim rights as of the LOWRY 2010 publication. One of the few American mines still in production.
  • Imitation caution: General stabilized-turquoise cautions apply. The wide name variants (Kingman / Ithaca Peak / Turquoise Mountain) mean the stone has many legitimate trade labels — verify the specific claim area when provenance matters.

References

  • Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. Gibbs Smith, 2010. ~lines 9820–9870, 11859–11894.
  • Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush 1890–1910. Callais Press, 2021. ~lines 7500–8000, 7980.

Related Entries

The rush-era Ithaca Peak / Mineral Park operations run parallel to the Cerrillos story and the Burro Mountains / Tyrone operations. For the stabilization process that shapes so much Kingman material, see Treatments and Imitations. Color context: turquoise grading and color guide. Matrix types: turquoise matrix guide.

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