Vintage Navajo #8 Turquoise & Sterling Cuff Bracelet 2 grams- 6 7/8 wearable

Elegant Navajo Rare #8 Turquoise and Sterling Silver Cuff Bracelet. Pretty Navajo cuff measures 1 1/8 inches wide and has wearable circumference of 6 3/4 inches- the inside end to end measures around 5 1/4" with an additional 1 1/2" gap. 1960's Cuff Displays rare #8 Mine Turquoise framed by Navajo raindrops and rope-work. Radiant greenish-blue turquoise cabochon has gold highlights.

Comes in jewelry gift box. Morenci Turquoise was mined in Greenlee County in southeastern Arizona out of a large metal mine operation. Morenci is highly prized for its beautiful blue colors, which vary from a light to a very dark blue.

Also for its unusual matrix of iron pyrite or "fool's gold" that when polished often resembles silver. The Turquoise was a byproduct of the Morenci copper mine in Arizona. For many years heavy-equipment operators at the mine would "lunch box" the high-grade Turquoise out. The March 1977 edition of the "International Turquoise Annual" states, Many years ago, while mining for copper, workers unearthed a large zone of Turquoise-bearing rock and, realizing its value, began working this zone, neglecting the copper. In order to ensure copper production continuing, the copper company that held the mine at the time took the entire Turquoise deposit, which was extensive, and buried it under thousands of tons of waste rock from the pit and it is still sitting there. Uncovering it would be too massive and expensive a project. " From 1956 to 1984 the Turquoise rights were granted to William "Lucky Brown who had an extensive mining career that included working the mine at Villa Grove in Colorado. The Morenci mine produced high quantities and was marketed through family operated trading posts in New Mexico and Arizona. Lucky retired in 1982 and his sons continued to mine the Turquoise until the lease ended. See my other Etsy Store. For more great Native American jewelry.

Please send the item back to us with tracking.

---