SiS: INCREDIBLE Australian Petrified Wood Round - AGATIZED
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:44332825 |
This is a highly agatized, choice petrified wood round from Australia! It's actually one of the more richly colored and beautiful pieces of petrified wood I've seen from this forest, and is just amazing to see cut and polished with the naturally weather polished external rind. The back of this specimen is water worn and wind polished smooth and has its own intriguing shape and texture though it gives absolutely no hint of the timeless gem fossil reveale...d in the mirror polished cut face on the other side. The wood grain is particularly well preserved in this one and amazingly agatized - great fossil detail even at magnification. The color, finish and completeness are all what make Australian petrified wood so highly prized!! One of my best colored specimens from this gemmy site! It's taken quite a while, but we've finally managed to find a source for some top grade petrified wood from the last continent of the 6 continents that grow trees! Australia has long been known to have some absolutely world class petrified wood specimens, but getting the material shipped here from there has proven to be a cost prohibitive barrier for most collectors (including this one). I finally managed to negotiate a deal that kept the price of the finished specimens reasonable and I'm ready to start sharing the fruits of this multi-year search with other petrified wood and stone collectors! The petrified wood in Australia almost looks like it could come from the Pacific Northwest - which is saying a lot! The logs are typically water worn and smooth, but preserved in an exceptional high grade agate. The wood reminds me a lot of the petrified driftwood specimens we find here at the Rogers Mountain dig in Oregon, but the Australian logs have better wood grain and often have the heart of the log still preserved perfectly in the specimen (Rogers Mountain is usually just chunks of driftwood without the heart). The agatization is some of the best I've seen in petrified wood from any location. It takes a fantastic polish which really brings out every detail in the finely patterned growth rings and even the cell structure is easily visible under a hand lens. At first glance, this wood appears to be a conifer like the fir trees we find around here, but under magnification the cell structure looks more complicated and I'm uncertain as to the true species. It has the wavy ray structure between each clearly visible growth ring that reminds me of juniper or spruce. What I can tell you is that it's beautiful and very well prepared so you end up with a world class specimen for your own collection and study! This round is complete with the heart easily visible in the well preserved face. It was sliced from the end of a log, and has some natural wood tone colors with hints of other colors for a nice accent. The heart is well centered and the wood grain detail is very good. The polish is world class - just what you've come to expect when you buy from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary! This nice end cut measures about 5 1/2" across the polished face and is about 1.8" thick at the thickest point (varies since it's a heel cut). Weighs about 1.52 lbs. Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary is happily providing USPS & UPS 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!
