This is one of the single finest examples of this very high grade of tree fern fossils that you can find on the planet. This highly silicified and finely detailed fossil log produced cabinet specimens that many collectors across the country have put into their own display cases. The reason this variety is so prized is because of the polish we're able to coax from the unbelievably hard agate!! The stone is a bit like the picture jaspers that are often made into jewelry here in the northwest and takes a very similar, porcelain like polish. We've coaxed a beautiful polish from the face of this amazing natural wonder, ready to show in your own collection!
About 20 years ago in Tucson I saw some fabulous petrified tree fern specimens the likes of which I'd never layed eyes on. They were detailed, fascinating in their structure, and very colorful. They had the typical (poor) import polish on them, but I purchased several nearly complete specimens, brought them home and reworked them into truly beautiful collectibles. A couple of years later I tracked down the one miner who could legally export these fossils and visited his home and his claim in Brazil. The trip would leave me talking for days, but I'll leave that for our other site. What you can see here is one of the world class tree fern specimens we imported as a result of that trip.
The fossils are reminiscent of petrified palm with a very interesting and unsual "heart". The outer portion of the round looks a lot like palm wood with little rice grain like patterns uniformly distributed around it (this is the root mantle). The interior section is made up of a larger, less dense pattern where the heart appears to be made up of thick macaroni or brain shaped patterns (these are the bundled fern xylem and they have the most spectacularly beautiful honeycomb cell structure under a 10x loupe that you've ever seen!). This species is Tietea singularus, and comes from the Tocantins state in Brazil. The only thing that rivals the incredible detail in these ancient fossils is the colors that they're preserved in. There are several distinct digs within the deposit and one of them produces these fine, white skinned logs with porcelain grade agate preservation all the way to the rind. They ring like wind chimes when you tap them together - a sound that makes a true rockhound quake in the knees because it means the stone is likely flawless and very highly agatized. For the collector, this means a flawless specimen with a liquid perfect finish (if prepared properly). When cut, they almost always have a gray/black/white root mantle and orange heart with some black accents and a few, like this log, have a faint band of wine/purple near one edge.
This log was preserved with exceptionally good quality agate that took a beautiful finish. By selecting the specimens myself, I was able to choose those that could be worked into the finest show case specimens. I've cut, lapped and polished them on equipment I built myself to produce world class display specimens unlike anything you'll ever find in a retail shop. It takes a lot of dedication and attention to detail to produce real cabinet specimens worthy of a place in the finest petrified wood collections and at Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary, that's how we treat every piece we produce! Our finishes are second to none - really!!
This 100% complete round is cut from the center of a large petrified fern log. It's a rich color (better than the photo can convey) and has tons of detail revealed in the mirror polished face. It shows both the intricate fern frond bundles (inner portion) and the root mantle (outer zone) quite clearly.
I'm offering this excellent specimen to introduce collectors to the tree ferns we brought back. This choice round is nearly perfect and quite colorful and shows off the finish our shop specializes in. While many of our imitators claim to provide high quality lapidary polish work, only our shop delivers on that promise with every stone we offer - we promise you'll be able to see the difference our no compromises approach to finishing delivers.
This slab measures about 5 1/4" across the polished face and is cut about 0.44" thick. Weight is 0.54 lbs.
Stands sold separately.
Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary is happily providing UPS & USPS shipping to greatly reduce shipping charges on large rock orders. We will combine all of your purchases from our shop to bring you the greatest possible value in fine Lapidary & stone collectibles!
