FOX TURQUOISE
The origin of the Old Fox mine is near Lander County, Nevada. While indigenous people found large nuggets in this area in prehistoric times, the area was first discovered for contemporary mining purposes in the early 1900’s. In the 1940’s, Dowell Ward purchased & developed the old Cortez claims. Turquoise from this mine comes under several different names including Fox, White Horse, Green Tree and Smith, to differentiate the different deposits and colors and to create a larger perceived share of the turquoise market. Color range is from a soft sky blues, sometimes with a subtle water-marked matrix, to blue-green to green. While quite a bit of this material came out in nugget form, there is also large seam material, sometimes as thick as two inches. The colors in the seam material go to a deeper green, sometimes in conjunction with a very nice blue. The nugget material, while usually small, makes very nice cabs or can be used for inlay. The seam material, often not of ultra-high quality, is better suited for carving and, with the better quality for cabbing. Hardness is 4.5.
