Turquoise Museum - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Cindy Douce

Super visite si vous aimez la Turquoise c'est vraiment super. Les personnes sont super gentille et serviable. Le seul point négatif c'est de tombé sur une porte fermée, il serait peut-être possible de laisser l'acces au shop pour permettre au personne d'acheter quelque chose sans faire le musée et pouvoir patienter agreablement en sachsnt combien de temps il reste à attend. Vous devez acheter les billets sur internet mais c'est facile.

Anne Champion

I’m a huge crystal, rock, and mineral nerd since I was a kid, and I found the museum delightful. The mansion it’s housed in alone is a sight worth seeing, and it’s enchanting. The turquoise collection went above and beyond my expectations. It had everything—from art to fashion, from ancient to contemporary, from artifacts to raw and polished specimens. There was even a collection of imitation turquoise. You learn how it’s gathered and mined and treated. There was so much in the museum that was impressive, breathtaking, really artful, or just worth seeing, like the George Washington Stone. They had specimens with history from many mines, so I even left with an idea of what my favorite locales and quality of turquoise are. There’s history and art with turquoise all around the world. There’s so much cool art in this museum. It was well worth admission price. I learned a lot.

I also like how it was organized. You watch a short orientation video in the beginning that shows you where to go, then you’re on your own to wander. They have QR codes, but I prefer reading plaques, which they had plenty of. I thoroughly enjoyed all the different rooms and exhibits.

Then there’s the gift shop, which also exceeded expectations. They have expensive, impressive high quality specimens and jewelry. They also have affordable pieces, antique jewelry, and even imitation pieces. The man working in the gift shop, Mario, was really knowledgeable and friendly. The stuff they had was so good, so I was very indecisive! But I ended up with two beautiful raw specimens and an antique ring.

The owners and staff were all very welcoming and I think they’ve made this private museum a really lovely, informative, interactive museum. If you love art, history, minerals, jewelry, fashion, or architecture, this museum has something to impress you. A really fun experience. I’d definitely come again, both to spoil myself in the gift shop and soak up more of the museum and learn more. There was plenty to see and learn.

Chelsey Graves

Absolutely had a great time here!!! Not a place you can go once and see/ know even a quarter of the history behind turquoise, mining, artifical, etc. I definitely plan to come back and do a bit more!!! They are very QR code based so try to ensure your phone is charged and your camera can read codes lol. I didn't mind that aspect as it did leave a lot of room for more jewelry and displays. So much to learn there and worth the trip. Yes you do pay online for a ticket and need to arrive at least 10 minutes before your time, but you can stay as long as you want till closing so honestly it's worth it to me.

Maria Rominger (Threedogsandacatrv)

We love it. Well put together private collection. It was worth the drive. Thank you for sharing it with the public.

Kimberly Dearing

Definitely won't go back. The owner is very rude, we asked him to take our picture and he was too busy. There was only 5 people at the museum and our group was 3 of those 5. He definitely needs to learn people skills. I was planning to buy over $400 of turquoise at the gift shop until he treated us so bad. This place isn't worth the money.

Byron Jab

If you like turquoise or jewelry this museum is probably a five-star for you. They have a fairly unfriendly online requirement ticket policy and only unlock the doors for a few minutes to let people inside. They say everyone must watch the 10-minute video and it is only shown every 30 minutes. They can only sell as many tickets as seats in the room with the TV for the video. If you are not there when the video starts you miss your spot and are out your money.
Overall: huge collection and too much to learn. A poor method of dealing with potential customers. If you think you will leave with the knowledge of how to identify natural turquoise, you will not.

Sining Q

We had so much fun at the museum!! They have great pieces on display and so much information to learn. We knew absolutely nothing about turquoise coming in but absolutely enjoyed the exhibit. Don’t miss out on more beautiful stones in the gift shop! We were flipping through the binders and learning about different mines for a good hour and it was soooo much fun! Also everyone there is the most friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable!!

AmbitiousToad

My girlfriend and I visited this museum on a trip out to NM from Philly. I am sort of a rockhound, fossil, artifact and Native US history guy. She loves jewelry, and we both love handmade stuff. We’ve travelled around the world and have visited some of the most notable museums. I will say this was one of the best museums we’ve ever been to. The family that runs this museum has passion and will take the time to share their generations of knowledge to answer your questions while you see priceless turquoise pieces from around the world. I came out with a deeper understanding of how turquoise is created, mined, polished, and turned into beautiful objects by people throughout history. The museum is housed in an old movie set mansion and the displays are done in a way that is informative and keeps your interest.