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Beech (Fagus sp.) Columbia Plateau Basalts, Miocene Yakima Canyon, Washington ** This is an absolutely stunning specimen of a genus we don't see very often from Yakima Canyon. Many collections have oak, maple, hickory, sycamore, bald cypress and some coniferous cones -- but one seldom sees beech. While we are not quite sure of the habitat reasons for this, we are always ready to acquire and add a Beech from Yakima to our offerings. This area has produced a lot of wood in the past three quarters of a century and it continues to deliver magnificent pieces like this. This specimen has an interesting history. In 2005 we saw this end cut and quite a few slabs off of the log at one of our favorite cutter/dealer's booth at Quartzsite. We loved it and bought all that he had. They did not take long to fly off of the shelf in 2005 and the collector that bought the end cut just recently sold it back to us along with many other specimens from his collection. We don't expect that this somewhat opalized rind surrounding a blue chalcedony encasement of a perfect beech specimen to last long in 2022 either. (See natural uncut face photo.) We still have the "kissing slab" off of this end cut in our own collection - we have included it in show displays several times and it always garners comments. So much for the buzz - now on to the science ... Check out the photomicrograph for a better view of the woody fine structure. Notice that there are two distinct widths of rays and that the wide ones seem to have a fairly irregular distance between each other with several thin rays in between. This immediately tells you it is NOT a sycamore since sycamores have identical width rays throughout. Beech has diffuse pores (evenly spaced through the growth cycle - just like the sycamores) and they are relatively small (around 50 microns in tangential diameter - again like the sycamores) so the two distinct ray sizes are an early clue for taxonomic identification. We are always looking for genera and species that will help fill in the complete wood biome for these ancient forests. This specimen is a definite plus in that regard. And it is supremely beautiful, too! 5" x 4" on polished face, 1.5” thick end cut $195 |
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Birch (Betula sp.) Tertiary near Burns, Oregon ** An absolutely dramatic slice that attracts the eye immediately and says "look at me first!" We would have loved this slab even if we had not eventually found some structure that could be used to identify the taxon. But that find sealed the deal. We had just about given up on finding suitable structure when we inadvertently moved the slab so that the white edge was under the microscope. To see what we saw, check out our photomicrograph. At last we had something to work with, and immediately noticed that there were quite a few solitary vessels mixed in with several radial multiples of two vessels. Narrow medullary rays of only a single cell width and medium-sized vessels (range 50 to 100 microns) with only around 25 vessels per square millimeter led us right to birch on the Insidewood website. We have seen similar fossil wood from Eagles Nest near Burns that exhibit the light blue agate filling in cavities, but since the slab came to us as "near Burns" we cannot confirm that it is Eagle’s Nest – only that is surely looks similar! And, speaking of looks...did we mention how handsome this piece is? 6" x 4.5" on polished face; 1/4" thick slab $73 |
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Elm (Ulmus sp.)
Trout Creek Formation, Miocene McDermitt diggings, Oregon/Nevada ** While certainly not rare, we don’t see much elm from McDermitt on the market. Great specimen for the microscope enthusiast. Please check out the photomicrograph to see how well-preserved this specimen is. In addition to the outstanding structure preservation, this limb has fabulous dessication cracks in the center. Regularly spaced cracks produced a rather large star. This is a nice piece! 4” diameter on polished face; 1/4” thick slab $46 |
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Palm trunk (Palmoxylon) Oligocene, Catahoula Formation Rapides Parish, Louisiana ** This remarkably attractive slab of palm has exactly what you want in a slab from this classic area of central Louisiana. Good preservation of the vascular bundles, beautiful dark-red to maroon color highlights, exquisite polish, full round - in other words, an outstanding collector piece. 4.5" x 3.75" on polished face; 5/16" thick slab $139 |
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Primitive Conifer (Araucarioxylon arizonicum)
Chinle Formation, Triassic Paulsell Ranch, near Navajo, Arizona ** You can expect slices like this one to become very scarce on the market in the future. The Paulsell Ranch which was located immediately adjacent to the east boundary of the Petrified Forest National Park was added to the National Park a few years ago and is now closed to any collecting. Before the acquisition took place there was an opportunity to collect on the ranch for one last time and the effort produced some really handsome slabs. We love the radial grain appearance of this slab as much as we love the soft colors. Manageable size at 3.5", and who could not love the low price? This one will add graceful beauty to your collection. 3.5” in diameter on polished face; 3/8” thick slab $36 |