Category Archives: Fossils

Ammonite Jewelry and Ammonite Discus

Iridescent Ammonite from Alberta are many Thousand Dollars.

There are many sources on line (and we should always believe anything on the Internet), that indicate the first Discus’ were Ammonites. Other sources (WIKI) say the first Discus’ were cats. Who do you believe? I am indeed confused; perhaps they alternated; throw a cat then an ammonite. I say nothing more for fear lest PETA members boycott my blog. ammoinrock

Reverse impression and golden hue make this Ammonite classy.

I enjoy making fossil jewelry. A favorite popular fossil is Discus Ammonite. Most ammonites are found in Canada, U.S., or Madagascar. I’ve also seen plates of Morroccan Ammonites that are obviously fakes (ie artsy positioning, exact duplicates, or Ammonites from different time periods in the same plate.

Moroccan Ammonite

Ammonites were Cephalopods related to Nautilus, Squid, Cuttlefish, and Octopi. Many people think of them as snails. This is incorrect. Sizes range from huge 3 footers to miniscule sizes. I like the 3/4 to 2″ size for jewelry. The avid specimen collectors love the amazing iridescent Ammonites from Alberta. These specimens are priced in the high 5 figures. Some Ammonites from Europe are six feet in diameter. Ammonites thrived in the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods (175 to 65 Million years ago).

Kosmo Ceras

I have been attracted by the Pyrite Ammonites, Kosmo Ceras, from the Volga River in Russia. A Russian dealer mentioned that you have to pay large sums for a ride on a government helicopter to this remote site on government property. You could save much money by buying a Snob Appeal Jewelry Ammonite instead of exploring the Volga River Valley.

I love the reverse imprinted Ammonites that appear to be sprayed with gold paint from New York State. A light dusting of Pyrite occurs naturally on these Ammonites. I think, along with the iridescent Ammonites of Alberta, these particular Ammonites are very classy. I seek good ones out each year at Tucson.

Iridescent Ammonite

The iridescent part of the Ammonite is called Ammolite, and is considered gem material.

My metaphysical friends tell me that these iridescent Ammonites have good Feng Shui in the home or office. I would think that if you owned an Ammonite Pendant from Snob Appeal Jewelry, it should provide enough Feng Shui for your body. Besides Feng Shui, our Ammonite Pendants are great conversation pieces and look great with anything.

Fun Ammonite trivia:

Ammonites were believed to be petrified snakes in Medieval times.

Navajo and plains Indians called Ammonites “Buffalo Stones” as they had a resemblance to Bison. They carried them in their medicine bags for health and good hunting.

Dinosaurs and an Official State Invertebrate Fossil

Miniature Museum

Cincinnati Museum Center.

“Way better than the average museum!” This is how I describe the Cincinnati Museum Center which is located in the old Union Railroad Terminal. After the decline of railroad travel, the building was used for other random uses and in 1978 an attempt was made to convert the terminal into a shopping mall known as the Land of Oz. (Wikipedia) The mall opened in August of 1980 after two years of construction and then the recession hit and the mall took a hit. In 1982 the Cincinnati Museum of Health, Science and Industry opened in the terminal. The Oz project closed in 1984. The terminal was virtually empty for the next decade. In May of 1986 a bond levy was passed to save the terminal and transform it into the Museum Center. Former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer was one of the major proponents of saving the building and converting it to a museum. Amtrak still runs out of the terminal three times weekly. The conversion cost in excess of $40 million, funds provided by federal and state governments, local millage and donations.

Six organizations now have their homes here: The Cincinnati History Museum, the Museum of Natural History & Science, Robert D Lindner Family Omnimax Theater (a five story domed movie house), the Cincinnati Historical Society Library, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, and the Cincinnati Railroad Club. We were most interest in the science part which was featuring dinosaurs, while the Omnimax Theater showed a movie, Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants of Gondwana (Patagonia). t-rex1

The dinosaur exhibit featured fossils, skeletons, and 20 full scale casts of assorted dinosaurs. The Omnimax movie was projected on a five story dome which allowed for a full surround picture and digital sound. Watching this movie that appeared to be three dimensional, but you didn’t need 3-D glasses is so realistic that it freaks some people out. Dinosaurs are layered over natural habitat for a completely realistic experience. The movie featured the discovery of the first super-big giganotosaurus which is possible the largest land predator that every lived. It measured 45 feet in length and weighed six tons, slightly surpassing the T-Rex in size. We followed Fr Rodolofo Coria a renowned Argentinian paleontologist who has discovered several new dinosaurs in Patagonia. This was one of the most amazing movies we’ve ever seen, with supersized dinosaurs walking right over your head.

Dinosaur Bone.

A closeup or some Dinosaur Bone reveals they are made up of a multitude of individual agates.

The museum featured a series of diaramas starting at the beginning of geologic time. Wonderful displays of rocks, minerals and fossils–I wished I owned the beautiful red and black Kentucky agate that I saw. I specialize in great agate jewelry.

Also featured was the official invertebrate fossil of Ohio, the trilobite (isotelus). This was a 12-13″ specimen, not your friendly little pendant sized ones I make into jewelry! Now as far as I know, Ohio is the only state with an Official Invertebrate Fossil(Ordovician), which leaves open the opportunity to name any number of other types of fossils as official. Naming other Official Fossils would be a good activity when state legislatures have nothing else important to do in the future. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of this official fossil, but picture one the size of your biggest dinner plate! Pennsylvania also sports the phacops rana (Devonian) that is also a trilobite as their official state fossil. Does this make it more or less important than an official invertebrate fossil? This will give you something to ponder today: which is more important Official State Fossil or Official State Invertebrate Fossil?! I just hope Ohio is not still upset over trading Michigan a small strip of land for the entire Upper Peninsula.

Mastodon teeth look fairly ugly from the outside, but reveal magnificent patterns on the inside. The issue with them is most often they are too soft for lapidary work.

Mastodon teeth look fairly ugly from the outside, but can reveal magnificent patterns on the inside. The issue with them is most often they are too soft for lapidary work.

There were a number of mastadon fossils on display from Ohio, including several sets of teeth, which of course reminded me of the jewelry I made from them! Seriously, they were black and kind of boring looking color-wise. Notice that the pendant I made from a mastadon tooth had interesting mineral replacement giving it earthy blues and browns.

The main museum entrance. You enter a fantastic domed huge open space that sued to be the main train terminal.

The main museum entrance. You enter a fantastic domed huge open space that used to be the main train terminal.

Murals, that at first seem painted, turned out to be made up of small colored tiles.

Across the huge lobby from the entrance to the Science museum is the History Museum. As we entered the museum we were met with a friendly volunteer that pointed out their scale model of Cincinnati as it may have looked beginning in the 1930’s. The detail and accuracy of this model is jaw-dropping especially as Cincinnati goes from daylight to darkness, and the lights come on. Miniature people, streetcars, trains, automobiles and animated action are all part of the scene. The history of Cincinnati is throughly detailed, including a neat 2/3 scale steamboat and small historic town on the lower level.

The old entrance to the trains is now the entrance to the 5 story OMNIMAX theater.

If you are ever in Cincinnati, do take a day to visit the Museum Center.

Keweenaw Ledge Agate-AKA SISU Agate

Visiting the Seaman Mineral Museum is always a treat. Their Fluorescent display is shown.

The Keweenaw Peninsula always amazes us. We have had the most wonderful couple weeks. Business has been robust, with loads of lovely ladies sporting our jewelry made from local Copper Country rocks. We pulled into our new campsite at Lake Linden last night, and while I was talking to the campground

The Pink Petoskey Stone and the Favosite I donated to the Seaman Mineral Museum.

host, I told her I sold my jewelry at Copper World. She said “Are you the guy that makes that amazing wire wrapped jewelry”. I admitted that I am and she told me that someone was in the campground who had a new Lake Superior Agate necklace she had bought at Copper World. It is so nice to get complements like “I could not believe that was wire wrapped jewelry, it was so perfect.” How nice is that? Coffee and a complement first thing in the morning–a great way to start the day.

Bon nie chats with some customers at the Eagle Harbot Art Fair.

Bonnie chats with some customers checking out some earrings in a mirror at the Eagle Harbot Art Fair.

I expect since it is a perfect day, I’m just going to relax and make some jewelry in my lawn chair.

This last week we started digging a hole in some hard rock ledges south of Copper Harbor, and we struck the mother lode of Ledge Agates like I have seldom been seen. This is a special type of Lake Superior Agate not as well known as the traditional fortification (or banded) agate. I was finding this agate in seams rather than in nodules, or single rocks.

Here I am "slamming" agates out of a ledge. I call these SISU Agates, because they are so hard to get.

The normal Ledge Agate is a dull brown or pink/white, non-banded, drab agate, but some of these are bright red, some with white Quartz. I have been literally working my meals off in this hole. I have a special “slammer” tool my buddy Chris made for me. I cannot imagine how much harder these would be with a chisel and hammer. I did dig this hole: bend and twist, sweat and ache. I saw color and from a deathlike state I come back to life and kept beating at the rock. The local Finns have a word for going above and beyond your ordinary: SISU. I am definitely in SISU working on this hole-struggling above and beyond. I hereby dub these SISU Agates!

Agates in the hole.

I guess I am in the Agate Greed mode right now, so we will go get more the next couple days.

A whole bucket of SISU Agates.

Finally the Monks at the Jam Pot had a full supply of their famous Muffins and other goodies.

Pink Petoskey Stones on the Workbench

We have been making and featuring Petoskey Stone Pendants for many years. With tourists to our area, these are beloved souvenirs of northern Michigan. Over the past couple weeks I have been busy polishing and wrapping jewelry using new Pink Petoskey Stones. I expect a wave of activity when the new Rocks and Minerals Magazine comes out in the next week. I offer both a page for Pink Petoskey stones and for Pink Petoskey Stone Jewelry, so you can wear a pendant and have a special stone for your collection.

My Pink UFO.

Amazing pink in this one.

Make your choice of “Pink Pets” (my moniker for these) today. Where can you find a Pink Pet for your very own? In the natural stone world, they are quite scarce for sure. I have found over 10 tons of Petoskey Stones over 15 years, and have 20 gallons of Pink Pets to show for it. This is only 1% by my count. We choose the best Pink Petoskey Stones for our jewelry and specimens to offer you on our website.

I liked this one.

I expect to post a blog with additional information on the rare Pink Petoskey when the Rocks and Minerals Magazine article comes out.

Here are a few of the Petoskey Stone Pendants I have been making.

Finding the Ent

It’s about time I showed you some of the jewelry I made from all that stuff I bought in Quartzite and Tucson in February. I have been working both in my shop and on my workbench.

This is just so wild.

Another really cool Bumblebee.

One of the most popular stones in Tucson this year was Bumblebee “Jasper”. It is not really Jasper, but is a mix of minerals in a matrix of a volcanic Tuft from the island of Java in Indonesia. Most of the Bumblebee we saw was just yellow and black, but I was lucky to find one dealer that went to Java and hand-picked some of the best material that I have ever seen. These Cabochons were bright pumpkin orange and black.

Treebeard the Ent.

I bought some wonderful Yellow Feather Dendritic Jasper from Utah. Dendrites are tree-like Manganese inclusions in a rock, and make wonderful pictures. The Pendant I show you in this blog stood out when I cut a slab off the host rock. I am a big Hobbit fan and I actually saw what looked like the Ent named Treebeard in it. “Hroom, hm, come my friends.” He’s taking Merry, Pippin, and the Ents in a charge on Isengard. Now where else can you get a totally natural depiction of a Lord of the Rings character for your stone jewelry?

Blue Biggs.

Biggs Jasper is a long-time favorite with lapidary types. It is quite scarce now but back in the 60’s the famous Blue Biggs was very popular. Biggs was re-discovered while building a road, and the best that came out was Blue Biggs. The reason I say it was re-discovered is that Native Americans made arrowheads from this Jasper for many years. Some Biggs was also used for landscaping. I found a nice chunk and this pendant is one cab from this spectacular picture Jasper.

Dinosaur Bone-WOW

There were many sellers of Dinosaur Bone at all the shows, but when I saw a D-Bone slab with a red agate inclusion, I just had to have it for a special piece of fossil bone jewelry.

Royal Imperial Jasper

Royal Imperial Jasper has just such spectacular patterns and pastel colors. I really like this stuff, found in Zacatecas, Mexico about 50 miles north of the city of Guadalajara. Does is remind you of Edvard Munch?

Smithsonite

Smithsonite from the famous Glove Mine in Arizona caught my eye. These stones had unusual colors, and made some really lovely jewelry.

It was a real pleasure to find the oldest living thing in Middle Earth in my stone pile. One of the reasons I cut rocks and make jewelry is because I love these unexpected visions. Stay tuned for the next finds!

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows-Bear Traps & Beads

Cold 50, cloudy, and rain Yuk!

Here’s a hint for you. If you need good parking at the Tucson Rock shows, try going on a weekday that is cold and rainy. No problem with parking at Electric Park today.

This, by far, was the neatest stack of Tiger Eye we have ever seen. (Electric Park)

We started at a small show at the Grant Inn. There were few dealers there, but Bonnie had seen an ad for Arizona stones and beads, particularly peppermint jasper. (She does keep coming back to pink). He also had some somewhat rare Lightning Quartz beads that when rubbed together create an effect called triboluminescence. We saw him demonstrate the effect when two pieces of this quartz were rubbed together it produces a light eminating from the stone. These stones have a long history of use by medicine men, and are involved with rainmaking.

Triboluminescence: The property that some materials become luminous upon being scratched, crushed, or rubbed. Examples of substances exhibiting triboluminescence include the minerals fluorite (CaF₂), sphalerite (ZnS), and wintergreen LifeSavers! There are two types of triboluminescence. The first type results from the storage of electrons which have been ejected by the penetrating gamma radiation of ⁴⁰K decay in lattice defects. A small mechanical shock is then sufficient for these electrons to overcome their energy barrier and cascade down to ground state. The second type is observed most frequently in sugars (including wintergreen Life Savers), and results from the breaking of certain bonds. This breakage creates free bonds, which immediately absorbs and ionize nitrogen from the atmosphere, producing a characteristic green or blue-green flash. Maple syrup sucrose produces an especially strong effect. (From Wolfram Research)

We witnessed it in a darkened room and it was like lightning in a stone. The closest thing you may be able to relate it to is the effect we sometimes get when grinding a Quartz, or agate on a diamond wheel. I guess just go buy some Wintergreen Lifesavers and be amazed.. This is the wacky sort of trivia I like.

We visited other dealers including Daniel Lopacki that has been our source for saw blades for many years, but had never met him. He is also a great fan of Victoria Stone, and I enjoyed seeing his personal cabochon collection that was very colorful and reminded us how beautiful this stone is for handcrafted jewelry.

Weirdness-traps & beads (and rugs)

Rhodocrosite. Bonnie likes pink!

We were driven inside and saw a Mountain of beads at one dealer.

: You know I like unusual jewelry. Here is something really cool: a piece of a Mastadon tooth from S. Carolina. I promised the dealer I would make a pendant from it, and so I shall.

We returned to Electric Park with darkening skies and shortly after we visited with Mary and Hubert Collins from our rock club, it did start to rain and we had to go inside to tour around again. We found some really nice large drilled amethyst focal beads that we hadn’t seen previously. Also, I went back to the Diamond Pacific tent again and ordered a new set of wheels for my Xpert that I purchased last year.

We left Electric Park and went to the International Wildlife Museum which kept us out of the rain and reduced spending to only our admission fee.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows-Brown Eggs & Green Cactus

Another very fine Ammonite.

Azurite/Malachite

The crowds are building for the weekend here in Tucson. The early birds get the parking. We just had a few errands to run today, picking up a few things we regretted not getting during this last week. We lucked out on parking at every location, ending up at the Fossil Show again. OK, I’ll fess up; I went back and got some more Seymchan Meteorite slices.

Linghams

The other day I saw these egg-looking things at the fossil show. I’ve seen them before, but did not know what they were. There were big ones and smaller ones. So here is their story, right from the vendor:

They were Tantric Shiva Linghams, sacred to the Hindu traditions. They are gathered once a year from the muddy banks of the Narmada River, one of the 7 sacred places of pilgrimage in India. Of those found, very few have the characteristic patterning that make the Tantric Lingham so unique. They are naturally formed of the Crptocrystalline Quartz (Jasper FYI), with iron oxide deposits said to have been implanted in the riverbed by a meteorite millions of years ago… .and it goes on to describe the metaphysical powers including stating that these stones contain the loftiest vibration of all stones on earth. I admit I touched one and did not get any “lofty vibration” (and I would have know if that happened). Of course I kill a lot of rocks and do not feel their pain either. The Lingham I felt up was a big one, so maybe I should have sat on it to feel the “vibration”.

Real Cactus (Prickly Pear)

Fake Cactus with fake Dino's.

Fossil Croc.

I apologize if I have offended any Hindu in writing this article. This was not my intention. I just say what the little voices in my head tell me to.

I took a few other photos for your viewing pleasure.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows-22nd Street Was the Only Game in Town.

65 cloudy

The 2013 Tucson Rock, Gem, Mineral and Fossil shows are ready to begin, but the city roads are a mess with orange cones and construction signs. If you are on your way here, be sure to bring your GPS to help navigate. Street construction is underway everywhere and I predict frequent bottlenecks.

Xiphactinus (TPI)

Turtle (TPI)

??? (PCI) The only game in town today was the 22nd Street Show opening a day early. Their parking lot was filled up and they have a new hard sided tent this year, much larger than last year. There were a great many fossil dealers at this show this year, but a scattering of dealers selling jewelry, gems, rough rock, cabs, beads, wallets, old glass bottles. The majority of dealers were set up and ready, but we noticed a few dealers still sitting up. I would say there were in excess of 100 dealers.

My favorite of the show was Triebold Paleontology Inc (TPI)(www.trieboldpaleontology.com). Their fossils are always top notch. A tortoise and another small-ish Preditor that resembled a small T-Rex, but they were not sure if it was, in fact, a T-Rex or a new smaller Raptor (adult). But is was from the Hell Creek area in South Dakota. TPI also had a reproduction of a Xiphactinus fish over 15′ for $36,500 and if you have a room big enough he has an real Xiphactinus at home, 18 ½ foot long for just over $300,000. Great display guys!

Manatee

fish

We saw a prehistoric Manatee at another dealer, the more common (in Tucson) fish plates, and many other assorted fossils.

Quartz Gems with Gem of a Woman.

I always enjoy the giant Quartz plates, and the one we saw at this show was great.

Elephant Bird Eggs

Protoceratops

One of the most unusual things we saw was someone selling Aepyornis Maximus (Elephant Bird) eggs. These are 12 foot tall Moa’s from Madagascar that weighed half a ton. The bird laid giant eggs, and it was obvious that the eggs we saw were reconstructed from many pieces found. The last known Aepyornis died in 1658 or so. It is surmised that they were killed by a disease transferred by chickens or Guinafowl imported by humans.

Nearly all the shows start tomorrow. We will keep you posted.

Pink Petoskey Stones-Rare and Luscious

We live in Northwestern lower Michigan, the Petoskey Stone capital. Although Petoskey Stones are found in other places, the finest ones come from our area. The state stone of Michigan (the greenstone or chlorastrolite is the state gem), the Petoskey stone is found around Petoskey of course, but also on beaches, gravel pits, and gravel roads across the state.

On the stone piles, Petoskey stones blend in with the other gray rocks common around here. Whenever it rains you can find us donning our raingear and heading out. Rain makes the wonderful eye-like pattern of the Hexagonaria Fossil just POP! We also sometimes find other Devonian Fossils including Favosites, Horn Coral, Chain Coral, Crinoids.

A majority of Pink Petoskey Stones have some distortion caused by the Iron Oxide inclusions.

The rare Pink Petoskey Stone is one thing we especially covet. We do not find many of these beauties, but when we do, we save them for jewelry or for collector pieces. Research has shown that the pink coloration happened during the calcification when small amounts of iron permeated the Calcite. It really does not take much Iron to tinge Calcite with a Pink coloration.

The pendant on the left in a darker Petoskey Stone and the iron tinged the stone almost mahogany. The stone on the right is lighter and just has a "hint" of pink.

The pendant on the left is a darker Petoskey Stone and the iron tinged the stone almost mahogany. The stone on the right is lighter and just has a "hint" of pink.

My favorite thing to do with Pink Petoskey Stones is to make pendants. Light colored Petoskey Stones generally have light pink coloration, while dark Petoskey Stones produce wonderful maroon colors.

One of the specialties of Snob Appeal Jewelry is Pink Petoskey Stone. When I find a stone, I can only guess how deep the pink color saturates into the stone. Many times the pink hue is only skin deep. I find that often the Iron Oxide has distorted the Petoskey Fossil, making a less then satisfactory gemstone. If I find a pink Petoskey actually is gem grade, it is a special moment knowing that this will make some great jewelry.

I’ve talked a lot about my love for the Pink Petoskey stone, but I still make pendants from the other Petoskey Stones I collect, as long as they have a vivid pattern. Unfortunately, often a Petoskey Stone may be porous, making it impossible to polish to a suitable jewelry finish. Other times the Petoskey Stone may be “muddy” (pattern has mud visible in the mouth of the fossil). I do not use these muddy fossils in my jewelry.

I find Petoskey stones throughout our home area, but I realize just how uncommon these fossils are throughout the world. Our Petoskey earrings, bracelets, and necklaces are most popular with people who have visited or lived in Michigan, searched the beaches and remember those times fondly.

Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Shows-Jaw-Dropping Fossils

2-8 partly sunny 70

Tucson’s Mineral & Fossil Coop rivals any museum fossil display you have ever seen.

Mammoth Herd.

12-8-swimmer-dino

Imagine a massive warehouse with perhaps a dozen of the finest Fossil Dealers in the world. Spectacular fossils everywhere; featuring entire Extinct animals to small trilobites.

Cephalopods & Ammonites

TM&FC is a permanent wholesale vendor of fossils to shops, museums, and collectors around the world. The coop is listed as part of the Gem, Mineral & Fossil Show, and is a popular spot for those that are in the market for the finest fossils on earth. If they do not have it at the coop, they can probably get it. The coop is know for authentic fossils, but I did see a few manufactured fossils there. Not even close to some of the fake stuff some Moroccans sell, and if the fossil is manufactured or altered, the coop will tell you, unlike many of the less credible dealers.

Floor to ceiling fossils!

We saw million dollar specimens, dino eggs at $1000 each, and fishplates in excess of $5000. Flats of small fossils abounded, as well as almost any type of fossil-related home décor.

Megalodon Mouth

Meg teeth-Lower jaw detail

We saw a full Megalodon mouth featuring real meg teeth. It was amazing to see how new sets of teeth were ready to rotate in to replace teeth that grew worn or fell out of these giant prehistoric sharks.

Looks like the wild west, but I'd guess much older.

What a great palm frond wall hanging

The TM&FC is not the only thing we did today, but it deserves to be featured all by its self. You deserve to see it in pictures, although we wish all of you were here with us. One of the most amazing things we have seen here.

Huge Ammonite plate