PRECIOUS GEM AMMONITE. ...

Description

PRECIOUS GEM AMMONITE
Placenticeras meeki
Cretaceous
Bearpaw Formation, Southern Alberta, Canada
This is a lovely collector's sized example of the world's rarest gemstone, ammonite-derived ammolite. It is found in only a small region of covering parts of Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the result of precipitation from volcanic bentonite sediment, trace elements of a variety of elements from strontium to vanadium, and millions of years off compression. The ammonite's mother-of-pearl shell lining is transformed into the colorful and fiery stone seen here, flashing with golden green and red; the present example also retains a good portion of the shell's texture and measures 7 5/8 inches wide.

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