Travel Channel 

It's off to Tonopah! We head to Nevada in search of the blue-green gem, turquoise. Our first stop is a hands-on tour of Royston Mine with Dean Otteson. The Otteson family is one of the few remaining mining families in Nevada. After the mine, we meet Gene Waddell at the Waddell Trading Company for an appraisal and seek out Don Supplee for his turquoise-cutting skills.

Richness of color is the chief determiner of value in turquoise; generally speaking, the most desirable is a strong sky to robin's egg blue. Value decreases with the increase of green hue, lightening of color and mottling. Whatever the color, turquoise should not be excessively soft or chalky; otherwise, it is liable to fade over time, and will not hold up to normal use in jewelry. The mother rock, or matrix, in which turquoise is found, often has splotches or a network of brown or black veins running through the stone; this veining may add value to the stone if the result is complementary, but such a result is uncommon.