SiS: STUNNING 16" Wendover NV Petrified Wood Round - SKY BLUE & WHITE WOOD GRAIN

Regular price $610.00

One of the most rewarding things in cutting and collecting petrified wood is that the variety of colors, species and locations is nearly endless and is constantly producing new surprises and treats for your eyes.  I've been doing lapidary work on petrified wood for over 30 years now and I still get to enjoy the unmatched pleasure of working with amazing and gorgeous petrified logs that are new to me - and this one is the latest!  This log came to us through the Dan Beck estate collection.  When I first saw it I thought it was a variation of the blue and white Hubbard Basin NV logs, but the rind alone told me it was something entirely different.  Rather than the sharp coral like rind of Hubbard, this log had a splintery opal rind that is pretty much the polar opposite of how the rind forms in their Nevada cousins.  After some additional research I learned that the logs were found long ago near the Eastern edge of Nevada near the town of Wendover.  There are white chalk cliffs nearby that one source suggested was where the logs came from but I could not find any further coroborating info for that claim.  This intensely patterned, lighter colored beauty is one of the few full cross section slabs we have from the two short logs I was able to obtain.  The stone is very highly silicified and polishes to a gorgeous, glassy finish.  The color is really unmatched by anything else I've seen with a light to dark blue transition framed in white.  The areas that show the best wood grain are a bit less translucent and more tan.  It's really a gorgeous and eye catching color combination and based on the fact I have not ever even seen one of these before, I think it is safe to say they will remain a rare addition to any petrified wood collection.  This log had a hollow rot cavity that we've carefully stabilized near the edges to produce a strong, ready to display specimen for your collection featuring our signature mirror finish.  The structure under magnification shows that this tree was originally a conifer with fairly strong rays between the growth rings.  The growth rings are dark in much of the slab which contrasts so beautifully with the pale blue and white hues the log is primarily preserved in that it is simply beyond words.  The new caretaker of this magnificent collector piece is in for a very pleasant surprise!!  It's hard to believe nature can produce something this amazing from a fallen tree!!  It's really an unusual and attractive Wendover, Nevada petrified wood specimen!

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 specimen was cut and polished in our shop though the log came from Dan.  It's a truly perfect mirror finish that just glistens to help make this fantastic specimen all it should be!

The interior of this wood is very agatized while the rind is a fairly brittle opal.  There are some minor breakaways near that brittle round but otherwise this large cross section is fully intact and beautifully preserved.  The color in the wood grain in this slab is very rich and varied.  It's a unique color combination that isn't quite like anything else I've ever encountered save for a few of the blue and white Hubbard Basin specimens I've offered over the years.  It's quite beautiful and an excellent piece to show the flowing wood grain!  The color variety in the wood grain is incredible. Truly a stunning piece, but perhaps best of all it is finished with a quality finish that only Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary provides consistently on every piece we sell! Our lapidary process produces the finest finish in the business and when you hold this piece in your own hands we know you'll agree!

This large slab measures about 16" x 11 1/2" across the mirror polished face. It weighs 6.9 lbs.  It's cut from the center of the log and is about 0.57" thick.

A nice, unique naturally wonderful stone collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary!