Lander Blue Spiderweb Turquoise Cabochons - Durango Silver Company

Lander Blue Spiderweb Turquoise Cabochons - Durango Silver Company

A Brief History on Lander Blue Turquoise

The Lander Blue Turquoise mine in Lander County, Nevada is located between Battle Mountain and Tenabo. The mine was first claimed in 1973. This little mine produced some of the most beautiful spiderweb Turquoise ever discovered. Today it is considered the most valuable Turquoise on earth. Not surprisingly, as early as 1975 it had been stated that Lander Blue had become some of the most valuable Turquoise to date.

Like a number of the other high-grade Turquoise finds, Lander Blue was a very rich pocket discovery, and has been referred to as a “hat mine,” a term used to described small floats of Turquoise because they could be “covered with a hat” and exaggerated figure of speech There were no extensive zones or long veins. These pockets are not uncommon in nature and once mined out they are gone forever. The Lander Blue mine produce almost entirely spiderweb Turquoise cabochons once cut with colors from medium to deep blue with a stark black matrix. Although some other grades were found only approximately 100 pounds of the beautiful spiderweb Turquoise was mined at the location.

Rita Hapgood, a one time blackjack dealer in Battle Mountain, while walking with her two sisters, found little nuggets on the ground along Indian Creek in the Crescent Valley area of Nevada. After discovering this deposit of high-grade Turquoise she went on to claim the site as the Mary Louise Lode Mining Claim, the name Mary Louise belonging to her mother. The mine bordered the Lander Ranch. Later the claim was sold to Marvin Syme and Henry 'Hank' Dorian for the sum of $10,000.00. They brought in Bob Johnson, who provided equipment and began working the claim. The three then named the company the Lander Blue Turquoise Corp.

Marvin Syme ended up owning a number of Turquoise mines in Nevada and later retired to Idaho. Hank Dorian operated the Nevada Club in Battle Mountain for a number of years until his passing and Bob and Dixie Johnson continued to sell Lander Blue Spiderweb Turquoise Cabochons until they ran out. The Lander Blue mine later became part of Dowell Ward’s large string of Turquoise mines.

Today, because of its rarity and value, there seems to be more Lander Blue for sale than was ever mined. With very little provenance available when buying beautiful Lander Blue Spiderweb Turquoise Cabochons or Lander Blue Turquoise Jewelry, this material has truly become a case of ”Buyer Beware.” The only way to be sure is to buy from a reputable dealer and know what you are looking at. To the trained eye, nothing looks like true Lander Blue Turquoise.