Chinese Turquoise

Cloud Mountain - Hubei - Dragon Skin - Emperor's Turquoise - Red Skin - Maanshan - Bao Canyon - White River - Yungai

Chinese Turquoise has become the most widely used Turquoise in the world. There is evidence of turquoise use in China dating at least as far back as 1700 BC.

Cloud Mountain

Located in the Hubei province of China, known as Yungai. This mine was closed by the Chinese Government in the early 1990’s due to unsafe conditions. This mine produced tens of thousands of pounds of turquoise during its years of operation. During the years of operation, the Chinese simply removed all webbed material, seeking only the clear, no matrix’d turquoise. Subsequently, when Americans showed up in the 1980’s they found enormous warehouses filled with what was previously deemed ‘worthless’ piles of webbed turquoise. This material ranged from low grade worthless chalk material all the way to the very finest high grade rock hard turquoise. When I first started collecting around 2002 - 2006, material from the Cloud Mountain mine was all that you could find online. Many American turquoise miners believe the introduction of Chinese turquoise to the American market had irrevocable negative effects. In particular, to pricing. 

White River

This material comes from China. It is not actually turquoise but has similar aesthetic qualities. It is 100% natural.Â