SiS: RARE 16" GIANT BLACK Psaronius Tree Fern Slab - Ohio - Beck Collection

This is a truly perfect slab from a very large Psaronius tree fern with a gorgeous white agate and crystal field of root structure preserved in jet black agate!  This is one of the relatively few specimens of gem grade Psaronius I've ever seen from this North American deposit.  There are well preserved psaronius specimens found in several different locations in Ohio with the better silicified examples being found near the town of Shade, OH.  At more than 300 million years old, this is also one of the oldest petrified wood fossils we've ever offered (though technically not wood).  The fossils found there are distinct from those found in other parts of the world in that it tended to form much larger trunks than the ones from South America (for example).  In my limited experience, they also tend to almost always be from the very base of what must have been enormous and tall trunks as the root mantle dominates almost the entire cross section with very little xylem typically present (the xylem would make up more and more of the diameter of the trunk as the root mantle became narrower as you approached the fern fronds at the very top).  Most of what I've seen of this material was relatively lower degrees of silicification and not particularly appealing from a lapidary standpoint, but this highly polished specimen is a rare counter-example.  It's very solid and took a fantastic polish to reveal all of the growth structure clearly.  It also appears to be a full cross section with a distinct central xylem region near the light spot on the center left.  The stone is quite dark and would likely show the root mantle features even more clearly if left in direct sunlight for a few weeks, but we're offering it in the jet black state we received it in from the Beck collection.  We polished this slab in our shop from rough material obtained out of the Beck collection and the mirror finish is truly amazing.  It's a perfect slab cut from the center of a large log, rough and natural on the back and sides.  A true collector piece prepared as it should be!

If you're an established petrfied wood collector than you have almost certainly purchased pieces from Bob and Dan Beck, either directly or through the rockshops they supplied.  They have been fixtures at Quartzite for decades and Dan was also regularly set up at the Tucson and Denver shows.  Bob Beck began his Oregon rockhounding career about the time I was born, back when Kennedy was still President!  Like most rockhounds, he began casually and his first piece of equipment was a rock tumbler that he'd bought for his daughter.  He soon found he loved it more than she did.  He followed the passion and by the time his son Dan was in high school, Bob already had a small commercial operation producing lapidary art and jewelry pieces.  His son was quickly enlisted in the nascent family business where the bug also took hold.  When Bob decided to pursue lapidary full time, Dan said he'd help for a year to get it going.  That year stretched to 45 and the family became one of the great anchors of Pacific Northwest petrified wood lapidary artists.  It's hard to say for certain, but my guess is that these guys made more petrified wood bookends over the years than all of the other Pacific Northwest lapidary studios combined!  Dan kept the business going on his own in more recent years as his dad's health and age limited his participation, but he recently retired from the business himself.  Like most of the old breed rockhounds, they were some of the nicest and sincerest people you could hope to meet or trade with.  I've purchased the bulk of his inventory including tons of rough raw material and a few boxes of premium finished pieces as well as several others in various stages of production.  This piece is one that Dan produced and as you'll see, the quality of his work is every bit as good as those we produce here at Sticks in Stones Lapidary.  Dan is the only lapidary I know that appears to be as completely, even obsessively focused on perfect finishes as I am.  His shop utilized the same processes in the same steps that I use in my own shop.  I can honestly say that there is nothing in my skill set that would make this specimen any better than if I'd started with it from scratch myself.  It's a truly perfect mirror finish that just glistens to help make this fantastic specimen all it should be!

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