Somewhere in Madagascar there is an entire hillside of gorgeous rusty orange tinted petrified logs like this one - but here in the US this is the only one I have been able to secure produced such perfectly shaped and colorful specimens! This is a medium sized and very attractive, virtually perfect round cut from the center of a choice petrified wood log from Madagascar! Many have seen the bland, lifeless specimens from this remote island nation, but you haven't really seen what the other side of the world can produce until you've seen one of the specimens we've prepared in our shop with a mirror finish unmatched by any petrified wood you've ever seen before! Color like this is hard to find and when finished properly provides one of the most beautiful natural displays you've ever laid eyes on!! The numerous drusy lined crystal cavities preserved in this gem grade petrified wood only add to the beauty and mystery. If you look at these under magnification you will see that each of them is framed in bands of orange fortification agate! A gorgeous collectible fossil Araucaria specimen and one of the best from the log, so don't miss it!
This gorgeous, absolutely choice petrified wood round is the latest in a series of really nice, very colorful rounds that we've cut from some short logs we obtained last year in Tucson. This round isn't the typical Pacific Northwest treasure that we specialize in either. It's kind of a long story, but hey, this is a Sticks-in-Stones write-up after all :-) I found a gentleman with several boxes of imported petrified wood logs from Madagascar that were still packed in their original crates and unopened. I had seen some nice specimens from this location before, but most were fairly boring with little detail or color and of generally low quality, especially the finishes. But when I started going through these boxes I found that about 1/4 of them were actually very nice. I took every one of the nice ones and left the rest (which probably explains how most people get the idea that the Madagascar wood is boring). :-) :-) In this case, I re-cut a medium sized, short log to produce some of the nicest Madagascar rounds I've ever seen! Since I'm the one that cut it, I was able to apply some of the craftsmanship I've learned over the years to avoid problems with flaked out fracture lines that are common in the imported specimens. I've also polished it to a much higher quality lustre 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 camera struggles with lighter tones so some of the color in this piece is washed out, but it's a real beauty in person! The heart is clearly visible and nicely center in a piece with a wonderful overall shape. 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 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. It is a perfect slab cut from the center of the log with a fair number of fractures but they've been stabilized so they didn't flake out during finishing - it's a fabulous piece. The polish really is liquid perfect - a difference in the quality products Sticks-in-Stones has built its reputation on! It measures about 9" x 7 1/4" in diameter. It's cut about 3/4" thick. Weight is 3.02 lbs.Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary is happily providing UPS & USPS 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!