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This is absolutely one of the single most impressive slabs I have ever seen from this amazing petrified forest! If you look closely, you'll see that the entire slab is really, really finely preserved and the growth rings stand out in incredible detail. This was a fairly stout Araucaria conifer when it was alive, but 200 million years or so later it's a magnificent gemstone with an incredible tale of unimaginable time to tell! I was only able to get four nearly perfect slabs from this short log and each is a masterpiece. I've cut quite a bit of petrified wood from Madagascar over the last decade and this beautiful slab really is a nearly quintessential example to represent the best of what this vast petrified wood deposit can produce. It's the best of the best of the Madagascar wood and some of the most colorful and well preserved fossil wood to be found anywhere on the planet! The incredible color variation preserved in the wood grain is just awe inspiring, and to find it in such a nicely shaped, well preserved fossil Araucaria is just a treasure frozen in time, waiting for you to tell it's story to! Of course we've polished this beautiful natural artwork like no one else can to really bring it to life!
One of the largest and most productive petrified forests on the planet is on the huge island of Madagascar off the southern African coast. While many have seen the bland and lifeless specimens that are most typically found in this huge deposit, few have had the opportunity to see the top grade, colorful gem fossils that are occasionally unearthed there. Fewer still get to see them properly prepared with a mirror finish to reveal all of the rich fossil wood grain and color! Even the rind on this log is amazing, offering up a perfectly contrasting sandy texture that still looks like a log today. Last year we located a new source of logs that have produced some truly museum grade specimens and this stunning monster is definitely one of them! The material was so good in fact that I travelled halfway around the world to be able to select the best pieces this particular forest had to offer! The color alone makes it a collector piece - but add in all the other features in this nearly flawless specimen and you can see why I was so excited to have found the log! They truly do not get much better than this folks, no matter what forest you're looking at! 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 from this increasingly important deposit yet in your own collection, this is your chance.This is a complete round cut from the center of a nice sized log. It shows the distinct (and uncommon to see so well in logs from this location) honeycomb grain structure of modern conifers (no resin canals visible) which makes it related to modern fir and sequoia (it's probably araucaria). This stone has been professionally polished on our own custom built lap that produces a flat face and a mirror perfect shine. It is a full slab cut from the center of the log. The polish really is liquid perfect - a difference in the quality products Sticks-in-Stones has built its reputation on! It measures about 13" x 10" across the mirror polished face. It's cut about 0.85" thick. Weight is about 8 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! |