AMAZING Petrified Wood Round - African WOODWORTHIA - Geode Fossil Specimen!

Regular price $57.00

This is one of the most interesting, best shaped, best agatized and best defined, structurally detailed rounds I've seen in one of these fascinating petrified logs! The color combo is attractive and provides good contrast to see the finely detailed wood grain, including bold rays, crisp growth rings and a nice pith! What's really premium with this one is a that the stone is more silicified than most in this forest and it polished beautifully to reveal all of that magnificent Woodworthia detail!! Polished in our shop to really show it off properly and MUCH better than the dull imported specimens found elsewhere, this is a true collector piece! In fact the back of this slab still features the export polishing that was done in Zimbabwe and it provides an informing contrast to the mirror polish on the display face that we did here at Sticks in Stones Lapidary! It's hard to find a beautifully prepared specimen of this fascinating variety of wood and when you find it you know why it's worth holding out for one! These are both world class collectibles and would even make fantastic high end coasters!

This round is from a larger log that still has the stellar rays emanating through the entire round from the spike knots this wood is identified from. In the last couple of years I've started seeing some really fascinating petrified wood coming into the US at the big import shows from Zimbabwe, Africa! The wood is typically green, brown and black and exceptionally well preserved on the exterior. The interior reminds me of a lot of the Utah wood in detail (i.e. it's hit and miss) but the best pieces show beautiful spike knots leading up to the spine bases that coat the exterior logs. You'd recognize these specimens anywhere as the logs are consistently the same colors inside and out, and the exterior is coated with an unmistakable pattern of spine scars. The wood grain itself varies in quality, but the best of these pieces show spike knots in cross section (they look like rays coming from the center of the log) and a good cut will show several of them.

This wood is quite unique and really a much more interesting fossil than most of the Woodworthia we get here in the US. The green color is something you have to see in person to understand - it's not really comparable to any other petrified wood and it's difficult to get a representative photograph that really does the color justice. The wood has a reasonably high silica content so we're able to coax a nice polish out of the specimen.

This is one of the few complete rounds I was able to locate that really took a nice polish. If the timeless mystery of this piece isn't enough for you, then I'm certain the simple, natural, gemmy beauty of it will be. The colors are dark and subtle, and the wood grain is unique to this exotic species.

This round is cut from the end of a very solid log. It's really a nice piece, but what else would you expect from a business named "Sticks-in-Stones"?! We've applied all of our considerable lapidary skills to bring out a mirror finish and produce a specimen worthy of display in your own collection. You can also make out some of the spine scars on the edge of the slice.

This piece measures about 4 1/8" across the polished face and is cut to a maximum of about 0.44" thick. Weight is 0.52 lbs. Stands sold separately.