Bisbee turquoise came out of the Lavender Pit at the Copper Queen mine in Bisbee, Arizona, and it is the stone that turned American turquoise into something collectors chase. It was never mined for itself — it came up as a by-product of copper, often carried out by miners rather than produced commercially. The pit closed to mining in the mid-1970s, so every Bisbee stone in circulation today came out of the ground before then.
What makes it recognisable is the combination of a hard, deep blue — the shade the trade simply calls “Bisbee blue” — with a red-brown matrix that collectors call chocolate. Good Bisbee is dense and takes a high polish, and the contrast between the blue and the rusty matrix is unlike anything else mined in Arizona. Because the supply is fixed and will not grow, Bisbee is priced as the finite material it is, and pieces set with it are usually built to show the stone off rather than hide it.
Our Bisbee pieces are handmade with natural stones and set in sterling silver and 14K gold. This is a small, deliberately selective part of the collection — when a Bisbee piece sells, we cannot simply order another, so the count here moves slowly. If nothing on this page is right, call us: we sometimes have Bisbee in the showroom that is not yet online.
Silver Star Jewelry is family owned in Old Town Scottsdale, at 7257 East First Ave, and has been since 1979. Open every day — Sunday through Thursday 10:30 to 6:00, Friday and Saturday 10:30 to 7:00. Call (480) 949-1101. Free shipping within the US on orders over $99, and 14-day returns and exchanges.
More Arizona turquoise: Arizona Turquoise · Kingman Turquoise · Sleeping Beauty Turquoise · Morenci Turquoise · All Turquoise · The Turquoise Guide