Royal Blue turquoise comes from the Royston district near Crow Springs in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Located in March 1903 by J.L. and U.G. Workman of Tonopah, it became the largest site in the district, produced heavily under the Himalaya Mining Company — and spent decades wrongly called "the Tiffany mine."
Nevada turquoise begins with a footnote: discovery in the state is generally credited to a prospector named Clayton in the mid-1870s near Columbus in the Candelaria Hills, at a time when there was no economic incentive to mine it — "turquoise sold for the price of coal." The Royal Blue changed that math. In late March 1903, J.L. and U.G. Workman of Tonopah located the claim about eight miles north of Crow Springs, on the western slopes of what they called Quartzite Mountain. (CHAMBLESS ~lines 9118–9135)
William Petry — the lapidary from the Toltec Gem operation — paid $2,500 for the single Royal Blue claim, and on November 4, 1908 sold it with the Azure Blue, Corona Turquoise, Oriental Blue, and Justice Fraction claims to the Himalaya Mining Company through its representative Lippman Tannenbaum. The Royal Blue was worked hard in 1908 and 1909 under the supervision of Julius Goldsmith, Tannenbaum's nephew, with production reports at times exceeding 1,200 pounds a month — enough to justify a house for Goldsmith and his wife and a designated cabin just for sorting turquoise. (CHAMBLESS ~lines 9190–9250)
Then there's the name problem, best told by C.T. Johnson, who later worked the mine, in a 1976 interview: "At that time everyone termed it the 'Tiffany' mine. Tiffany was the most abused name for turquoise mines in the west. If a person had ever sent a piece of turquoise to Tiffany's in New York, why it automatically would become a Tiffany mine. I sat down and wrote Tiffany's a letter one day, and as far as they knew they never owned a mine or never intended to own property." It was the Himalaya Mining Company all along, shipping several hundred pounds a month. (CHAMBLESS ~lines 9440–9470)
The Lowrys complete the picture from the district side: the Royston area's first claims came in 1902, its deposits marketed as Oscar Wehrend, Royal Blue, Bunker Hill, and Royston — "the Royal Blue site is the largest" — and because the stone from these sites looks alike, the area's turquoise is generally marketed today under the single name Royston. (LOWRY ~lines 11819–11833)
The district today: Royston turquoise. Petry's earlier chapter: Crescent Peak and the Toltec Gem Mining Company. Tannenbaum's New Mexico claims: Jarilla.
Ready to shop authenticated turquoise? Browse turquoise at T.Skies →