This is the largest cut from a unique example of Woodworthia that represents one of the prettiest and more unusual that I have ever seen come out of Madagascar. For those that collect with us, this specimen reminds me a great deal of the richly colored "well log" that came out of Zimbabwe several years ago. The color in this slab is a combination of pink and purple with gold and white accents. The shape and structure are both exquisite and the agate that preserved this beautiful piece is very high grade, and our polish really shows this one off for the museum piece it is! This is a nicely shaped and beautifully patterned petrified wood round brought to life with an exceptional polish that we do right here in the Sticks in Stones rockshop! This is a virtually perfect example of an uncommonly colorful fossil Woodworthia from Madagascar. The vast majority of the Madagascar wood is conifer with some really interesting exceptions. Woodworthia is much more common in Zimbabwe, but it does occur in the Madagascar petrified forests and this rare piece is among the best ones I recall seeing from there! The fossil forest that this tree comes from is roughly 200 million years old! It's one of the nicest, roundest, and most colorful pieces we have ever prepared from this forest and it's in a wonderful smaller size that is still big enough to be loaded with amazing wood grain pattern, fossil structure and rich natural color! Examine this one under magnification and you'll spot the telltale medullary rays associated with the spine scars on the rind that make this one so distinctive. We have all seen the bland, lifeless specimens from this remote island nation that are dully finished and sold cheap, but you haven't really seen what the other side of the world can produce until you've seen one of the premium grade, colorful specimens we've prepared in our shop with a mirror finish unmatched by any petrified wood you've ever seen before! This gorgeous fossil beauty actually has some of the prettiest natural shades preserving the delicate fossil wood grain you'll see from this forest!! It really is about as close to perfect as a petrified wood specimen can get and easily one of the highest quality pieces you will ever see from Madagascar, or anywhere else for that matter!
This gorgeous, absolutely choice petrified wood round is the latest in a series of really nice, very colorful rounds that we've prepared from a small selection of truly premium slabs that we imported directly from Madagascar several years ago when we visited the country to purchase logs. Our host exports a lot of stone to dealers and wholesalers from around the world and several local lapidary operations bring finished stone to his warehouse to connect with buyers around the globe. We were fortunate that word had gotten around that a lapidary focused on petrified wood was arriving and we met a couple of local artists that work premium specimens of a grade and quality that is almost impossible to get in small, rough logs from the miners as these lapidaries get them first! Although not nearly as efficient as working from rough stone, some of the pieces I saw were so nice that they were worth bringing back and working in our own shop to bring the imported finish up to our own very high standards. This round was one that was worth the investment and I think you'll agree it is definitely one of the nicest Madagascar slabs you'll ever lay eyes on! The original finish (still visible on the back of the slab) was better than most of the exported work on these special pieces, but it was still a fair step away from what we could achieve in our shop. I only recently came across this small box of slabs that I'd nearly forgotten I'd purchase and was excited to get to re-polish this one! It's a very nice, brilliantly colored, virtually flawless round with great wood structure and eye appeal, now prepared as a world class collector specimen with our mirror finish. This slab is among the first we have produced from this small lot and the color really is remarkable!
I've polished it to a much higher quality luster than you find on the imported varieties. Even if you already have Madagascar wood in your collection, you owe it to yourself to see how nice these ancient treasures can be when properly prepared! This wood takes an extreme polish that looks just fabulous. It has a ton of detail and some of the nicest colors I've ever seen in petrified wood (and considering what we usually have on hand this is saying a lot). The starburst interior is nicely accented with a huge variety of colors all swirled with other natural tones that preserved the fibrous wood cell structure from this ancient tree fossil very well. The heart is clearly visible as are the growth rings of the tree. It's a striking Madagascar wood round sure to enhance any collection!
It's just amazing how beautiful petrified wood can be, and this fine specimen found halfway around the world shows to what lengths people will go to bring these treasures to market! If you don't own a top-grade piece form this increasingly important deposit yet in your own collection, this is your chance. This is a nearly perfect round cut from the center of a nice sized log. This stone has been professionally polished on a special lap that produces a flat face and a mirror perfect shine. The polish really is liquid perfect - a difference in the quality products Sticks-in-Stones has built its reputation on!
It measures about 8 1/4" x 4 1/2" in diameter. It's cut about 0.49" thick. Weight is 1.32 lbs.
Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary is happily providing USPS & UPS shipping to greatly reduce shipping charges on large rock orders. We will combine auction items or provide additional items from our shop to bring you the greatest possible value in fine Lapidary & stone collectibles!
This gorgeous, absolutely choice petrified wood round is the latest in a series of really nice, very colorful rounds that we've prepared from a small selection of truly premium slabs that we imported directly from Madagascar several years ago when we visited the country to purchase logs. Our host exports a lot of stone to dealers and wholesalers from around the world and several local lapidary operations bring finished stone to his warehouse to connect with buyers around the globe. We were fortunate that word had gotten around that a lapidary focused on petrified wood was arriving and we met a couple of local artists that work premium specimens of a grade and quality that is almost impossible to get in small, rough logs from the miners as these lapidaries get them first! Although not nearly as efficient as working from rough stone, some of the pieces I saw were so nice that they were worth bringing back and working in our own shop to bring the imported finish up to our own very high standards. This round was one that was worth the investment and I think you'll agree it is definitely one of the nicest Madagascar slabs you'll ever lay eyes on! The original finish (still visible on the back of the slab) was better than most of the exported work on these special pieces, but it was still a fair step away from what we could achieve in our shop. I only recently came across this small box of slabs that I'd nearly forgotten I'd purchase and was excited to get to re-polish this one! It's a very nice, brilliantly colored, virtually flawless round with great wood structure and eye appeal, now prepared as a world class collector specimen with our mirror finish. This slab is among the first we have produced from this small lot and the color really is remarkable!
I've polished it to a much higher quality luster than you find on the imported varieties. Even if you already have Madagascar wood in your collection, you owe it to yourself to see how nice these ancient treasures can be when properly prepared! This wood takes an extreme polish that looks just fabulous. It has a ton of detail and some of the nicest colors I've ever seen in petrified wood (and considering what we usually have on hand this is saying a lot). The starburst interior is nicely accented with a huge variety of colors all swirled with other natural tones that preserved the fibrous wood cell structure from this ancient tree fossil very well. The heart is clearly visible as are the growth rings of the tree. It's a striking Madagascar wood round sure to enhance any collection!
It's just amazing how beautiful petrified wood can be, and this fine specimen found halfway around the world shows to what lengths people will go to bring these treasures to market! If you don't own a top-grade piece form this increasingly important deposit yet in your own collection, this is your chance. This is a nearly perfect round cut from the center of a nice sized log. This stone has been professionally polished on a special lap that produces a flat face and a mirror perfect shine. The polish really is liquid perfect - a difference in the quality products Sticks-in-Stones has built its reputation on!
It measures about 8 1/4" x 4 1/2" in diameter. It's cut about 0.49" thick. Weight is 1.32 lbs.
Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary is happily providing USPS & UPS shipping to greatly reduce shipping charges on large rock orders. We will combine auction items or provide additional items from our shop to bring you the greatest possible value in fine Lapidary & stone collectibles!