Kingman "Bandolero" Ring No. 1

Stone Story

Kingman Turquoise comes from the Mineral Park area outside Kingman, Arizona, and it has been coming out of that ground for a long time — longer than most people realize. Archaeological evidence suggests pre-Columbian peoples were mining and trading Kingman turquoise as far back as a thousand years ago, with some historians tracing it along trade routes that reached as far south as Central America. It was valued long before anyone put a commercial name on it. Today the Kingman Mine is one of the most active and productive turquoise operations in the country, and one of the most varied. Kingman comes in a range of expressions — from clean, open blues to water web and spiderweb matrix patterns where silver or black veining runs through the stone in tight, intricate lines. That variety means no two pieces are quite the same, even when they come from the same source.