Polished Kauri Gum

[NZ_Fossil_Collecta]

Ok, so a few of you have heard me rambling on about that Kauri gum i found a while ago but up until now i haven't got around to giving you pictures. well, here is a picture of a polished piece of the stuff. ~90% of the lump we found was milky and mostly opaque but there was a large pocket of clearer copal in one part, the piece in the picture is a piece of that pocket. i then polished it up with Brasso and a rag, and now it shines beautifully. me, and occasionally my friends, will be hunting for some more of the copal so you can expect to see more pictures in future. Insects, you ask? as of yet, i have not looked at it under the microscope.

[CH4ShotCaller]

Very nice specimen. I recently started prepping pieces of copal a friend gave me, fun to start work with something other than concretions. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday though, don't prep and leave the copal in the sun. Every piece that sat in the sun heated up enough to cause it to crack. I was examining another piece and heard noises that sounded like ice cubes 'cracking' in a glass of water. When I picked up the pieces, they had all cracked. Bummer.

[t-tree]

Hi NZ ........I've posted on the 'fossil hunting' thread of your's 'backyard kauri gum hunting' ....and have also been polishing kauri gum today in the UK no inclusions so far.

John