ULTRA-GEMMY 6" Saddle Mtn., WA Petrified Wood Round - Gorgeous Slab!

Regular price $47.00

This absolutely gorgeous slab is one of the nicest smaller sized Washington State Saddle Mountain petrified wood rounds that we've come across in many years. The log that we cut this perfect specimen from came to us as part of the Beck collection and is an exceptional example of the finely preserved, glass like fossil conifer specimens that are occasionally unearthed at this site! It's a beautiful specimen with great growth rings and finely detailed wood structure under magnification in pleasing, subtle, warm colors. There is a perfect rind framing the countless growth rings in this smaller sized slab. The kinky wood grain is typical of the stump end of the conifers found at this site. The opal content is so high in the preserved wood that it polishes like porcelain or glass - it's really something that needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. It was a very slow growing conifer tree (or possibly massive limb) with very tight growth rings and a resin canal free honeycomb pattern parenchyma preserved in very nice detail under extreme magnification! It's hard to be certain in a cross section only view whether you are looking at a cypress, redwood (sequoia), or cedar - all were found in this fossil conifer forest and the distinction is subtle (and perhaps sometimes even imagined). But the polish in this gemmy specimen says gemstone and collector piece as much as it does fossil!! It's a truly mirror perfect finish that is almost hypnotizing in hand!

This is a really gemmy mid-sized round cut from the center of a nice, medium sized petrified log that came from our neighboring state, Washington. Washington has a few nice petrified wood deposits, the most well known of which is Saddle Mountain. The Saddle Mountain wood is sort of a cross between what you'll find on the McDonald Ranch and McDermitt here in Oregon. 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 piece really shined up beautifully. The rings are really well preserved in this one and I think it's a fir tree given the absence of either resin canals or hardwood pores. With a hand lens you can make out the conifer cell structure pretty easily, but it's hard for me to discern fir from cedar or bald cypress and this location has produced all three. It's particularly nice agate and the polish shows off the natural gemmy beauty very nicely!

Like all of the petrified wood we specialize in here at Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary, this piece has been cut and lapped to be perfectly flat, then sanded and polished to the highest quality finish you'll find anywhere. Our polish work is among the best to be found anywhere and we go out of our way to make sure every piece has the same mirror perfect shine we'd want if it were going to stay in our collection!

This is a virtually perfect round cut from the center of a complete log section. It measures about 6" x 4" across the polished face and is cut about 0.41" thick. It weighs 0.74 lbs.

Display stands sold separately.

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