54113.0 - Very Rare Natural Turquoise from Central Australia 812 carat 162 grams

Our "TurqOZ"... A VERY RARE TURQUOISE

Please bear in mind that my Australian Turquoise may not look all that attractive in photos, but they really are "ugly ducklings" which when cut and polished will show their true colour and beauty.

In contrast to Turquoise that has been treated and where the colour don't change after cutting, natural untreated rough can change colour quite a lot when the surface is highly polished.

Absorbing moisture during the cutting process and which is then somewhat trapped under the polished surface, also adds to the change of colour.

This particular piece is very hard and will have the dark rock and/or the light brown rock light in stones after cutting which gives an interesting character to the stone.

If you are looking to get clean, Turquoise ONLY stones and other than very small ones, then this piece is not for you.

This Turquoise, "TurqOZ", was mined by a public company in the early/mid 1970's and apparently is the only commercial Turquoise mine that has operated in Australia although the core of the mining operation was centered around mining for Zinc.

Many tons were purchased and shipped by a Sydney gem export company to the USA, by AIRFREIGHT... in 44 gallon drums!

The mine was, however, forced to close down when approaching an Aboriginal sacred site.

All of the rough that the company had on hand when it seized mining, was purchased and stored away; becoming another classic case of my "out of sight, out of mind!".

Until now, after 40 years "in hibernation", "re-discovered", cut and polished and offered for sale.

This "TurqOZ" is NATURAL, UNTREATED, which is VERY RARE as PRACTICALLY ALL TURQUOISE has been TREATED, either for COLOUR or STABILITY or BOTH!

As no further mining can take place and as the mine were no longer producing Turquoise, this Turquoise is very rare, if not extremely rare as it basically will not be replaceable at some point in the future.

And; so how accurate is the claim of TurqOZ" being "very rare"?

Well, Australian Black Opal is really considered a quite rare stone when compared with most other gemstones in terms of carats produced.

Black Opal has been mined for over 100 years, is still being mined and will still produce more in the future.

Compared to the yearly production of Black Opals and most other Gemstones which are mined and cut, year after year, the some thousands of stones that will be cut from the "TurqOZ" rough is a drop in the ocean and, once cut and sold... that's it... no more "TurqOZ"... so how rare is this Australian Turquoise... VERY RARE!

?TurqOZ?... Australia's one and only Turquoise!