This rare and stunning belt is crafted from sterling silver and set with 18 gorgeous turquoise stones from the now-closed Dry Creek Mine.
The turquoise from this mine is gorgeous, unique, and extremely limited in quantity, and is known as "Sacred Buffalo Turquoise." There are many turquoise-set concho belts out there, but this piece is one of a kind.

Hallmark reads, "J Nelson".

Total Approximate Length: 47"

Buckle: 1 3/4" x 2"
Conchos: 17 of various sizes

History:
The Dry Creek Turquoise Mine is located on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada. The mine was first discovered in 1993, but the nature of the material led to some confusion, as it was extremely hardy and had an odd color. Subsequent testing of the material proved it was actually turquoise. The miners at Dry Creek (also known as the Godber) also found a white stone in the deposit that was mistaken as "white turquoise" but was actually Aluminite, also known as halite.
The turquoise from the Dry Creek and Burnham mines is a creamy pastel-blue, and blueish-white in color. The gem grade material from these mines is very hard and only available in small quantities. Since turquoise gets its pigment from the heavy metals in the ground where it has formed, the color of this turquoise is attributed to the fact that there was not many heavy metals in the ground at the mine site. The amount of aluminum in the ground was greater than the amount of copper in the ground and thus the lighter shades of blue in Sacred Buffalo Turquoise. The matrix in Dry Creek Turquoise is typically light golden or brownish-gray, or even gray-black in nature.
This turquoise is beautiful alone in a piece of jewelry and is especially striking when juxtaposed with other colors of turquoise in a single jewelry piece. To date, no other veins of this type of turquoise have been discovered, and the Dry Creek mine closed around 2005 when the Sacred Buffalo Turquoise ran out. Today, this stone is rare, and eye-catching, and well-loved as a unique piece of art created by nature and time itself.

Hand Crafted Concho Belts. Black Arrow Indian Art and Black Arrow Buckles, 1-800-621-6668