Enough money! The magic words. I’m not good at chronologically
placing the year I did this or that, but I remember the Brown family
fondly, as they resisted the trend of treating everything they
mined. They kept their prices reasonable, and sent what you ordered,
but the 90’s sound about right (I’m 66, to put this in perspective).
I have enough quality stone for the rest of my life, and I am sure
whoever scores my stuff as I sell out will be quite pleased with what
I have stashed over the years. The demise of the turquoise concession
sounds about right also, I have seen a lengthy documentary on the
leaching process, and they turn the pits into lakes of unbelievably
toxic chemicals.
Turquoise/chrysacolla being an associated by-product is, of course,
one of the first to go.