Our featured specimen

Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga sp.)
Golden Valley Formation, Eocene
Cedar Canyon, near Medora, North Dakota
** This handsome 6" long limb specimen from private ranchlands on the far western edge of North Dakota comes from the same Golden Valley Formation that outcrops with fossil wood in the nearby Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where the fossil forest is preserved for future generations.  It is another example of localities where small rounds are very scarce and the more common large rounds tend to be measured in feet, not inches.  So we were quite pleased to obtain material with a center pith that is appropriately-sized for display cabinets and drawers.  This one is notably a river-washed and tumbled limb section, in other words, great to hold in your hand. 

The wood anatomy of this specimen is outstanding - see our photomicrograph.  If you do not have Golden Valley Formation wood from the Medora area then this will be a great addition to your collection.
2” diameter on the polished face; 6" long limb section    $75

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Conifer surrounded by algae (Pinales Order)
Miocene, Trout Creek Formation
"Green Algae Wood Site" McDermitt, Nevada/Oregon
**  It has been a long time since we have had one of these specimens in inventory.  The so-called Green Algae Wood Site is just one of the many different diggings associated with the McDermitt area.  But, it has long since been depleted and specimens now only come out of old collections.  This one was in a box a dealer friend acquired from the heirs of one of the old Susanville California bookend cutters.  The Susanville group were early collectors across Northern Nevada and they harvested a lot of the best specimen material.  The algae is not green because the living algae was green...  the green color results from a trivalent form of iron oxide that colors the silicon dioxide as a trace element.  Why this particular oxide colored only the algae and not the wood is somewhat of a mystery.  If your collection does not have a representative specimen from this now depleted site, here is a chance to fill that gap.  As you might imagine, with that much algae surrounding the wood, there was not a good prospect of the wood anatomy being well preserved.  But, enough remains to determine that it was a conifer.
4.5” diameter on polished face; 5/16" thick slab     $65

​Oak (Quercus sp.)
Columbia Plateau Basalts Group, Miocene
Deschutes Canyon, Oregon
**  A VERY nice thin slab of oak from this legendary locality.  Please don't worry about the lack of thickness, because this special slab is professionally backed with fiberglass and is therefore very stable.  The site was on top of the canyon walls about four miles upstream of the confluence of the Deschutes River and the Columbia River.  In recent years, the ranchers who own the land on the sides of the canyon walls have closed their property to collecting.  As a consequence, this especially nice material has now become much more difficult to obtain.  This particular specimen came out of the inventory of a Deschutes Canyon local cutter who (decades ago) cut very thin slices off of logs in order to make coffee tables (the slabs would be placed on a circular jig and covered with clear resin).  We were fortunate to get some of his unused inventory (especially since most of the resin in the coffee tables has become discolored over the past 40 years and the tables discarded)!   This specimen has the extraordinary characteristics that make Deschutes Canyon material desirable -- good eye appeal with a nice definition of medullary rays, and perfectly round.  Click photo for a closer view ... and then don't let this one get away!  We can't call it rare, but it is surely less abundant in the market now.  
6" diameter on polished face; 1/8" thick slab    $69

Unidentified wood (Incertae sedis)
Oligocene
Matejowsky Ranch, near Nechanitz, Fayette County, Texas
** Wow – a blast from the past.   Lovely watercolored slice!  The old Matejowsky Ranch was once a fee dig area which was very popular among Texans and other visiting rockhounds.  It produced both palm and various dicot woods with some soft colors and nice patterns.  But, when the elder Matejowskys passed away, the ranch was closed to collecting and the site disappeared from the rockhound guidebooks.  So, it is now very rare to find a specimen with an ironclad locality assignment.  But, we obtained this slice many many years ago from a collector in Texas who could vouch for the authenticity of the piece because he had collected the limb himself.  I had some communication with the Matejowsky‘s heirs a long time ago (perhaps 20 years ago) and they told me that one of the reasons it was closed for collecting was that there was not much material remaining and they felt constrained to end the removal of the material.  It is worth stating that a lot of the material ended up in lapidary projects – jewelry, bookends, spheres, etc., and so the availability of good collector specimens from this locality was always somewhat limited.
4” x 3” on polished face; 3/8” thick slab    $75
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Conifer (Pinales Order)
Little Butte Formation, Mehama volcanics unit, Oligocene
McQueen Ranch, Sweet Home area, Linn County, Oregon
**  BULLS EYE!  Just check out the fantastic growth rings on this beauty.  They are closely spaced, exceptionally narrow and perfectly round.  Just the kind of slab that a favorite collector friend of ours calls a target-like bulls eye.  We agree - this one is really fabulous.  The McQueen Ranch has not produced petrified wood for quite a long time, but a recent logging operation and the attendant soil disruption has produced some really nice specimens and we thing we got some of the best!  The ranch is directly across the road from the famed Holleywood Ranch which has consistently produced enormous amounts of petrified wood, but the two neighboring sites could not be more different in mineralization.  While the Holleywood site has produced mainly tan to rust colored specimens, the material found recently at the McQueen is quite dark.  When the logging operation is complete and the trees begin to regrow, there won't be any more petrified wood discovered for a considerable period of time.  So, if you like the perfection of growth rings produced by this great slab, we suggest you acquire a specimen for your own collection before it is all gone - we did!
5" in diameter on polished face; 7/16" thick slab  $65
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