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This gorgeous set of bookends has several dozen very tight annual growth rings visible in the gorgeous, flowing wood grain revealed in the cut and polished face of this fossil wood turned gemstone. The petrified log this set of bookends was crafted from produced one of the cleanest and gemmiest larger sized sets we have cut yet. It really is remarkable petrified wood and the polished face looks as if it could be porcelain - it's that beautifully polished! This fossil wood turned stone comes from the Saddle Mountain area in Central Washington. It's a beautiful specimen with great growth rings and finely detailed wood structure under magnification in pleasing naturally warm colors. This is a really well preserved ancient redwood (sequoia) and the squiggly growth pattern of the annual rings makes it one of the nicer examples you'll see. The mirror polish is world class and really brings this stone to life. It's definitely one of the most unique and artful Saddle Mtn. specimens you're likely to encounter, all cut into a perfectly matched and beautifully functional set of bookends! This is a really gemmy set of bookends cut from the center of a nice, larger sized petrified log that came from our neighboring state. Washington has a few nice petrified wood deposits clustered around the volcanic reaches of the Cascades, the most well known of which is Saddle Mountain. The Saddle Mountain wood is usually sort of a cross between what you'll find on the McDonald Ranch and McDermitt here in Oregon with colors centered in browns and creams. Many of the specimens recovered there have a really high opal content like the McDonald Ranch wood does. The opal content makes it a bit more challenging to get a good polish on, but this stone really shined up beautifully to produce a wet looking, mirror finish. The growth rings are really well preserved in this one and it is clearly sequoia. With a hand lens you can make out the conifer cell structure pretty easily. It's particularly nice agate and the polish shows off the natural gemmy beauty very nicely! We select only the showiest pieces of petrified wood and other gemstones to cut into bookends. These pieces are carefully cut in our shop so that you end up with a perfectly matched pair, one agate piece is the mirror image of the other. Of course, there are plenty of differences in the two halves, but the photo should let you appreciate how well we do this. The bookends sit perfectly upright and are completely square to one another. They are felted on both the sides and bottom to protect the books and the shelf. We make sure they are 100% functional on top of being beautiful! Of course, these agates proudly show the perfect polish that the Sticks-in-Stones rockshop has dedicated itself to. The finish looks poured on - but there's nothing there except rock!! This is the only set of bookends we have cut from this location so don't miss this fabulous natural treasure! Each half measures about 7 1/8" tall & 6 1/2" wide at the widest spot on the polished face. They're cut about 1 3/4" thick. Weight for this set is about 10.52 lbs. which makes these bookends suitable for just about any sized book you have including the typical sized textbook, reference books or cookbooks. What better way to accentuate a bookshelf or your mantle than with this unbelievable natural work of art! A nice, unique naturally wonderful stone collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary.
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