This blinding black mirror slab is one of the most beautiful petrified wood slabs in the shop. It's understated complexity reveals an perfectly preserved fossil conifer when examined closely, but it is hard to resist simply getting lost in the reflection and those red agate framed crystal veins! This slab came to us as part of the acquisition of the Beck collection last year and we have only recently completed our work on it. The finish is simply amazing even by our very high standards! This wood comes from the Circle Cliffs area in Souther Utah. It is one of the best preserved and easiest to polish examples of petrified wood from southern Utah that I've seen! It has a true mirror polish that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Most examples of this wood are quite large as it was a giant conifer forest not unlike (and probably related to) the Arizona petrified forest. This is a nice, solid slab with very good structural preservation when viewed under magnification. While the structure is clear enough in many spots to give it a serious study, all I can say with certainty is that it is an ancient conifer. The log is very nicely agatized and took a fantastic polish as only the best grades of petrified wood can. The calcite and agate filled desiccation split in the center is classic for southern Utah. No fractures of any significance either which is rare for Utah wood!
NOTE: The second photo is taken from a mate cut slab off of the same log. It's included to show edge detail and finish quality which are both virtually identical in this slab but difficult to capture well in a photo.
I don't often get truly gem grade examples of petrified wood from Utah. I began my rockhounding field expeditions there years ago and while I made some spectacular finds (including a massive cycad that is now on permanent display at the Denver Museum of Natural History) very little of the petrified wood that I found was actually cutting grade material. This particular log is an exception to that. I didn't find it, but I sure wish I had! It's one of the better preserved petrified wood logs I've seen from that state and deserves a place in your collection as well. The Chinle formation has been re-interpreted over the last decade or so to identify a nice variety of fossil conifer trees making a casual identification of a specific species improbable at best. The cell structure of most of these super old conifer like trees are very difficult to separate just in cross section no matter how well defined they are and this one is no exception.
If you're new to our shop the one thing you should expect is to see an unexpectedly glossy finish on each stone we prepare. This complete round is a wonderful example of our work. It's been cut with a diamond saw and flat lapped on equipment I built myself to produce a mirror perfect polish unmatched by any of our many would-be imitators. The detail captured and revealed through the highly polished surface is just immaculate. It's easily some of the best Utah wood to be found anywhere! The rings are gorgeous, the agate is highly polished and the detail is easier to see in person than the photo suggests. It's a truly special find and we won't likely have a lot more so get a piece for your collection while it's available!
This is a slab from the center of the log and measures about 19 3/8" x 11 3/4" across the polished face and is cut about 7/8" thick. Weight is 14.82 lbs.
A nice, unique natural wonder collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary!
NOTE: The second photo is taken from a mate cut slab off of the same log. It's included to show edge detail and finish quality which are both virtually identical in this slab but difficult to capture well in a photo.
I don't often get truly gem grade examples of petrified wood from Utah. I began my rockhounding field expeditions there years ago and while I made some spectacular finds (including a massive cycad that is now on permanent display at the Denver Museum of Natural History) very little of the petrified wood that I found was actually cutting grade material. This particular log is an exception to that. I didn't find it, but I sure wish I had! It's one of the better preserved petrified wood logs I've seen from that state and deserves a place in your collection as well. The Chinle formation has been re-interpreted over the last decade or so to identify a nice variety of fossil conifer trees making a casual identification of a specific species improbable at best. The cell structure of most of these super old conifer like trees are very difficult to separate just in cross section no matter how well defined they are and this one is no exception.
If you're new to our shop the one thing you should expect is to see an unexpectedly glossy finish on each stone we prepare. This complete round is a wonderful example of our work. It's been cut with a diamond saw and flat lapped on equipment I built myself to produce a mirror perfect polish unmatched by any of our many would-be imitators. The detail captured and revealed through the highly polished surface is just immaculate. It's easily some of the best Utah wood to be found anywhere! The rings are gorgeous, the agate is highly polished and the detail is easier to see in person than the photo suggests. It's a truly special find and we won't likely have a lot more so get a piece for your collection while it's available!
This is a slab from the center of the log and measures about 19 3/8" x 11 3/4" across the polished face and is cut about 7/8" thick. Weight is 14.82 lbs.
A nice, unique natural wonder collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary!