Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Pendant in Sterling Silver – Ed Lohman & Ben Davis

This is the kind of blue that made Sleeping Beauty turquoise famous. The main stone has that clean, bright sky-blue color the Arizona material is known for, with natural brown matrix running through parts of the cabochon. Ben chose and worked the stone to keep that character rather than trying to cut all of the matrix away.

Sleeping Beauty turquoise comes from the Sleeping Beauty Mine near Globe, Arizona. For years, the mine produced some of the most recognizable turquoise in the American Southwest, particularly material with an even blue color and little to no matrix. Turquoise mining there eventually stopped, which means the genuine Sleeping Beauty available today comes from material mined years ago. That has made good-quality pieces increasingly collectible.

Geologically, turquoise forms when copper-bearing groundwater moves through fractures in aluminum- and phosphorus-rich rock in dry environments. The copper is responsible for that familiar blue color, while the surrounding host rock can remain behind as the brown or darker matrix you see running through this stone.

Ben Davis worked the main Sleeping Beauty turquoise cabochon, and Ed Lohman created the .925 sterling silver setting and detailed turquoise inlay work, including the custom inlay bale. There’s actually quite a bit going on around the stone when you look closely, but the design still leaves that big section of blue turquoise front and center.

• Genuine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona
• Cabochon work by Ben Davis
• .925 sterling silver setting by Ed Lohman
• Custom Sleeping Beauty turquoise inlay
• Handcrafted turquoise inlay bale
• One-of-a-kind pendant