A couple of petrified wood slabs from Indonesia

[MarcoSr]

I'm interested in petrified wood for both the scientific value (wood where the cell structure is well preserved) and for the aesthetic value (mineralized with vivid colors and crystal shapes).  Below are two petrified wood slabs from my collection.

 

Black (carbon) and White (silica) Slab:

 

 

 

Below are some close-up pictures taken with my digital microscope that show the wood structure in this black and white petrified slab:

 

 

 

 

continued in next reply

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Below are some close-up pictures taken with my digital microscope that show some of the incredible colors in a slab of petrified blue copper wood from Indonesia.

 

Blue Copper Slab:

 

 

 

 

Close-up picture that shows a thin amount of wood structure:

 

 

 

 

Close-up pictures that show vivid colors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

continued in next reply

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

A few more close-up pictures taken with my digital microscope that show some of the incredible colors in a slab of petrified blue copper wood from Indonesia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Here are pictures of another petrified wood slab from Indonesia.  These two slabs have incredible colors.

 

The two matched slabs:

 

 

 

 

The slab used for the close-up pictures:

 

 

 

 

Close-up pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[old bones]

Wow, Marco Sr., these are incredible! Wonderful colors and patterns.

[daves64]

On 1/1/2021 at 3:53 PM, MarcoSr said:

Here are pictures of another petrified wood slab from Indonesia.  These two slabs have incredible colors.

The two matched slabs:

Beautiful! Gives a whole new meaning to "fire wood". 

[MarcoSr]

3 hours ago, old bones said:

Wow, Marco Sr., these are incredible! Wonderful colors and patterns.

 

Julianna

 

I hadn't really thought about looking at them under a microscope until an admin of a FB petrified wood site that I had posted them on suggested that I do so.  I was amazed when I started looking at them and wanted to share what I was seeing.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

2 hours ago, daves64 said:

Beautiful! Gives a whole new meaning to "fire wood". 

 

That fiery pattern on that green background was why I had to purchase them.  I've seen lots of petrified wood but those two pieces were special.

 

Marco Sr.

[Abyss]

Sorry for reposting the pictures, but how know which ones I'm talking about ?

Again beautiful pieces of petrified wood & show more if you get more. I know many PW can be on the bland side for colors, well lets say more neutral natural colors, nothing wrong with that either. While there's plenty that are just WOW & are art for their color & pattern.

 

The pyramid shaped pair, colors & pattern really cool ! Would make a cool set of bookends with a little lapidary work. Depending on the size of these ?

 

That PW log would be nice to have the whole thing, have a end cut polished slice..... then slice down the middle and polish both half faces.

The colors shown on the outside screams amazing on the inside.

 

  

[Abyss]

That Blue Copper slab kind of looks like Blue mountain jasper in a strange way.Though that just one instances that this is happening, but cool pattern.

  

[MarcoSr]

On 1/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Abyss said:

The pyramid shaped pair, colors & pattern really cool ! Would make a cool set of bookends with a little lapidary work. Depending on the size of these ?

 

That PW log would be nice to have the whole thing, have a end cut polished slice..... then slice down the middle and polish both half faces.

The colors shown on the outside screams amazing on the inside.

 

The first specimens aren't big enough or heavy enough for book ends.  Only 880g 142mm, 78mm, 60mm and 1042g 155mm, 79mm, 60mm respectively.

 

The second log specimen was a huge disappointment for me.  The mine owner had agreed to sell it to me.  However, the Indonesian mine owners have a number of people who try to sell what comes out of their mines for a commission.   That is why you can see legitimate Indonesian sellers (however, could also be a scammer) trying to sell the same specimens. So one of them sold this log to someone else.  Obviously the mine owner received more money from that sale versus mine so I got the "I'm so sorry but it was already sold and I didn't know".  The colors in that log were spectacular and I haven't seen anything close and I've been looking at a lot of Indonesian sellers pages and posts in addition to bugging several mine owners.

 

On 1/3/2021 at 9:13 AM, Abyss said:

That Blue Copper slab kind of looks like Blue mountain jasper in a strange way.Though that just one instances that this is happening, but cool pattern.

 

Copper is only one of a number of minerals/metals/oxides that can cause a blue tint.  I'm going by what the mine owner said about my slabs.  There are a number of tests that can confirm the exact mineral/metal/oxide. Terms like jasper, agate, chalcedony/silica etc.  get used by sellers almost interchangeably.  From what I can figure out from the web, Chalcedony is a broad term to describe a microcrystalline form of silica. Agate is any type of chalcedony which is translucent, while jasper is any type of chalcedony which is opaque.

 

Marco Sr.

[Abyss]

On 1/4/2021 at 8:39 AM, MarcoSr said:

 

The second log specimen was a huge disappointment for me.  The mine owner had agreed to sell it to me.  However, the Indonesian mine owners have a number of people who try to sell what comes out of their mines for a commission.   That is why you can see legitimate Indonesian sellers (however, could also be a scammer) trying to sell the same specimens. So one of them sold this log to someone else.  Obviously the mine owner received more money from that sale versus mine so I got the "I'm so sorry but it was already sold and I didn't know".  The colors in that log were spectacular and I haven't seen anything close and I've been looking at a lot of Indonesian sellers pages and posts in addition to bugging several mine owners.

 

 

Persistent are we  Sorry to hear you didn't win the bid on that log, would of been a beauty to have even if it wasn't cut.

Arizona & Utah can produce some vibrant red/yellow/orange colors, Madagascar sometimes can get vibrant reds/orange colors.

[MarcoSr]

4 hours ago, Abyss said:

 

Persistent are we  Sorry to hear you didn't win the bid on that log, would of been a beauty to have even if it wasn't cut.

Arizona & Utah can produce some vibrant red/yellow/orange colors, Madagascar sometimes can get vibrant reds/orange colors.

 

I see a good amount of vivid color in Indonesian petrified wood but the pieces tend to be hunks/chunks and not nice logs like that one or not nice round or half round slabs.  The really colorful pieces tend to look like colorful rocks versus colorful petrified wood.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

I just received these pieces of petrified wood from Indonesia.  All four pieces were cut from the same one piece of petrified wood.  The below pictures were taken with the pieces dry.  It is really difficult to capture the true colors of these petrified wood pieces with pictures from a camera when the pieces are dry.

 

 

 

 

 

Below are videos of two of the pieces taken by the seller which better show the colors.

 

 

Petrified Wood 3 800 g 140mm X 102 mm X 5 - 35 mm.mp4

 

Petrified Wood 4 1858 g 150mm X 102 mm X 25 - 90 mm.mp4

 

 

However even these videos really don’t do the colors justice.  The next two reply posts show random pictures taken of two pieces with my microscope that really show the true colors.

 

Marco Sr

[MarcoSr]

The close-up pictures in this reply are from this piece.

 

 

 

 

Close-up pictures:

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

The close-up pictures in this reply are from this piece.

 

 

 

 

Close-up pictures:

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

I just received these pieces of petrified wood from Indonesia.  All five pieces were cut from the same one piece of petrified wood.  The below pictures were taken with the pieces dry.  It is really difficult to capture the true colors of these petrified wood pieces with pictures from a camera when the pieces are dry.

 

Group Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

These pieces have a lot more colors than can be seen in these group pictures.  The close-up pictures taken with my microscope that follow are from this piece:

 

 

 

 

This close-up picture shows a little bit of the original wood structure:

 

 

 

 

These next close-up pictures show the incredible colors in this piece:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Five more pieces of petrified wood from Indonesia.

 

Three pieces with marcasite inclusions (1520g 245mm x 145mm x 20mm, 738g 210mm x 96mm x 20mm and 1109g 220mm x 120mm x 20mm).  I'm researching the best way to coat these to prevent moisture and oxygen from causing pyrite rot.  I'll probably go with several tung oil coatings after thoroughly drying the pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two really colorful pieces (1403g 210mm x 110mm x 33 to 37mm and1433g 210mm x 102mm x 30 to 40mm ):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Another couple of pieces with close-up pictures of the last piece.

 

Slab 1 (1,096grams 190mm x 170mm x 18 to 20mm thick):

 

 

 

 

 

Slab 2 (1299grams 200mm x 150mm x 17mm thick):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Some close-up dry pictures of one of the red marcasite slabs (738 grams 210mm x 96mm x 20mm) from an earlier reply post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.