SUPERB PRECIOUS GEM AMMONITE. ...

Description

SUPERB PRECIOUS GEM AMMONITE
Placenticeras meeki
Upper Cretaceous
Bearpaw formation, Alberta, Canada
Gem ammonites are among the most sought-after of all fossils, and the present specimen is among the finest example. It is extremely rare that both sides of the ammonite are almost completely covered in bright, vibrant colors - and this specimen is one of those rare exceptions. One side displays a rainbow of opalescent colors of fiery red, flashing green and glittering golden yellow and even displays rare iridescent colors of blue and turquoise, while the reveres is predominantly the most desirable of reds with highlights of yellow and green. This rainbow spectrum is characteristic of only the most desirable examples, and it is extremely rare to find all of these attributes in a single ammonite of this prestigious size of 20 ½ inches in diameter.

The beautiful iridescent colors that shimmer throughout the shell were naturally created by the combination of millions of years of compression and the mineralization of iron, copper and silica, which precipitated from the bentonite sediment of volcanic ash. In most cases elsewhere, the aragonite-rich nacre (mother-of-pearl) of the ammonite's shell is pseudomorphously replaced by calcite or pyrite. In the Bearpaw formation, stretching over parts of Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan, however, the ammonite's shell becomes tainted with trace elements such as manganese, strontium, titanium, barium and others, manifested in the dazzling colors displayed here. Practitioners of Feng Shui and crystal metaphysics value it as the Kirin stone, or seven color prosperity stone, and believe it to be useful in detoxifying the body and promoting energy flow and prosperity. In 1981 it was accorded gemstone status by the World Jewelry Confederation; unlike other gemstones, however, whose brilliance is caused by light reflected from the surface, the shimmering and ever-changing colors of ammolite are the result of light refracting through and rebounding from the thin platelets of aragonite in the shell.

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