This amazing and extremely well preserved slab is cut from the center of a fossil conifer cone. It is one of the most perfectly preserved, beautiful and virtually flawless examples of this mesmerizing fossil gemstone we have prepared this year! I liked this slab so much that I polished both sides to a mirror finish! The shape and seed pod definition are nicely symmetric in this fine specimen. These cones are often compressed and distorted by geologic forces as they petrify. This one is a true collector piece and it is offered at an every day collector price. I love the color in these classic specimens with pale blue agate preserving the seed pods contrasting to the black coffee colors of the rest of the fossil! The colors in this specimen are typical of the better preserved examples we've cut and it really shows the growth of the seed pods within the cone very clearly. If you've wanted a true museum piece for your own collection - here it is! This one is preserved in nice agate that took a great polish while the perfect rind is still rough and natural just as it was found. The back is cut smooth and flat. The display face is polished to a mirror finish to bring all of the pattern and color to life! Don't miss it!
One of my best finds in Tucson this year was a source of good quality, highly agatized, petrified pinecones! I'd seen a few of these around in years past, but the prices were always out of reach for this rockhound. This year I found a fellow who had a selection of both whole and incomplete cones for a reasonable price. I wasn't all that interested at first, until I looked closely and saw how many of them were wind polished - a good sign that the stone is very hard and has a high agate content! I wetted a few and saw a gorgeous blue agate pattern in the face of some of the weathered ones. That was enough for me to jump in buy them and boy am I glad I did!!
The first cone I cut revealed a gorgeous, starburst pattern of dark coffee and black colored plant structure with the spaces between the seed pods and the seed pods themselves filled with a gorgeous blue agate that reminds me of the Blue Forest petrified wood we've enjoyed for years. This particular cone produced yet another surprising and beautiful color variety. You can see all the detail of this prehistoric cone in a shape and pattern that is unmatched by anything I'd ever seen before.
These lovely cones come from Argentina. The cones are "Araucaria elongata" or more commonly, giant monkey puzzle tree cones from Cerro Cuadrado, Patagonia, Argentina. They are from the Jurassic age. When cut in cross section they are beautiful, well preserved and exceptional lapidary/fossil specimens. If you haven't purchased from us before you'll be in for another treat - while many commercial lapidaries will tell you how great their polishing skills are, we invite you to look at the hundreds of comments in our feedback file where many of the collectors here on eBay explain that it's the unique high quality specimens and spectacular, liquid perfect polish that has them coming back to Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary to grow their collections!
This is a complete cone cross section slab is cut from the center of a larger than average sized cone and it is a nice example of what can come from this region. This one has a matrix surrounding one side that shows bits of other plant fossils as well.
This cone measures about 3 1/4" x 2" across the polished face and is a bit over 1/4" thick. This exceptional cone is intricately preserved and shows the seed pods very clearly.
Stands sold separately.
One of my best finds in Tucson this year was a source of good quality, highly agatized, petrified pinecones! I'd seen a few of these around in years past, but the prices were always out of reach for this rockhound. This year I found a fellow who had a selection of both whole and incomplete cones for a reasonable price. I wasn't all that interested at first, until I looked closely and saw how many of them were wind polished - a good sign that the stone is very hard and has a high agate content! I wetted a few and saw a gorgeous blue agate pattern in the face of some of the weathered ones. That was enough for me to jump in buy them and boy am I glad I did!!
The first cone I cut revealed a gorgeous, starburst pattern of dark coffee and black colored plant structure with the spaces between the seed pods and the seed pods themselves filled with a gorgeous blue agate that reminds me of the Blue Forest petrified wood we've enjoyed for years. This particular cone produced yet another surprising and beautiful color variety. You can see all the detail of this prehistoric cone in a shape and pattern that is unmatched by anything I'd ever seen before.
These lovely cones come from Argentina. The cones are "Araucaria elongata" or more commonly, giant monkey puzzle tree cones from Cerro Cuadrado, Patagonia, Argentina. They are from the Jurassic age. When cut in cross section they are beautiful, well preserved and exceptional lapidary/fossil specimens. If you haven't purchased from us before you'll be in for another treat - while many commercial lapidaries will tell you how great their polishing skills are, we invite you to look at the hundreds of comments in our feedback file where many of the collectors here on eBay explain that it's the unique high quality specimens and spectacular, liquid perfect polish that has them coming back to Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary to grow their collections!
This is a complete cone cross section slab is cut from the center of a larger than average sized cone and it is a nice example of what can come from this region. This one has a matrix surrounding one side that shows bits of other plant fossils as well.
This cone measures about 3 1/4" x 2" across the polished face and is a bit over 1/4" thick. This exceptional cone is intricately preserved and shows the seed pods very clearly.
Stands sold separately.