Number 8 turquoise comes from the Number 8 mine in Eureka County, Nevada, celebrated for one of the most beautiful spiderweb matrices in all of turquoise — bold golden-brown to black webbing over blue-green stone. The main deposit was depleted by the early 1970s, so today the stone is rare collector's material.
The Number 8 mine in northern Nevada is one of the legendary names in American turquoise. Its richest turquoise was mined out by the early 1970s and the deposit closed, which means no new Number 8 stone is produced; what circulates today comes from old dealer stock and existing collections, and it appreciates accordingly.
Number 8 is most famous for its spiderweb. The mine produced stone with a bold, well-defined matrix — golden brown, red-brown, and black — that webs across a blue to blue-green body in patterns collectors consider among the finest ever found. A strong Number 8 spiderweb cabochon is a genuine prize.
Because the mine is closed and the spiderweb material is so admired, authentic Number 8 commands premium prices and is frequently imitated or misattributed. Larger old stones, in particular, are scarce and valuable, and they tend to appear in important vintage pieces.
For collectors, learning to recognize genuine Number 8 is part of the appeal: the classic stone shows a tight, three-dimensional web of golden-brown over a calm blue-green body, with the matrix tracing fine, even lines rather than broad blotches. Because so little remains, even small authentic Number 8 cabochons are kept and re-set, passing from one important piece to the next. That scarcity is also why the name is so often borrowed, and why a documented chain of ownership matters as much as the look of the stone.
Provenance matters more here than almost anywhere. Buy Number 8 from sellers who can stand behind the attribution in writing, and treat unusually cheap “Number 8” with skepticism — the name is sometimes borrowed for lesser stone. Documentation is the difference between a collector's piece and a guess.