PRECIOUS GEM AMMONITE. ...

Description

PRECIOUS GEM AMMONITE
Placenticeras meeki
Cretaceous
Bearpaw Formation, Southern Alberta, Canada
A fine example of these highly sought-after specimens, this extremely bright and colorful ammonite flashes predominantly with fiery red on one side, whilst the other side is mostly a gorgeous golden green. This iridescent material is known as ammolite, one of the world's rarest precious stones and the result of millions of years of compression and the mineralization of iron, copper and silica precipitated from volcanic ash. The shimmering and ever-changing colors are caused by light refracting through and rebounding from thin platelets of aragonite, the primary constituent of the ammonite's nacreous shell lining. As with most specimens from the area, this one is significantly compressed, but retains good areas of three-dimensionality and is of good size, 17 3/8 inches in diameter.

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