Vertebrate Crystallized foot or paw?

[add71]

I’m not familiar with fossils at all so I need help identifying the specimen in the attached pictures. 

I found this mineral specimen, or at least I thought it was just a large crystal rock, in 2012 at my stepdads house in Placerville, Colorado(San Juan Mountains, down valley from Telluride). I was moving the rock, accidentally dropped it and several pieces broke off. That’s when I wondered if it was a fossil due to the presence of what looks like dried blood, venous cavities, connective tissue, bone, and skin. It is as if it was frozen instantly and turned into stone and crystal, Medusa reminiscent. The San Juan volcanic field is said to be the largest eruption in the world and the proximity of where I found it could explain the strange preservation (if it is in fact a fossil). 

[add71]

Here are more photos. I can’t resize from my phone so sorry.

[add71]

[Rockwood]

You have an interesting theory for why it doesn't look like bone, but I'm afraid it is too thin on why it should be thought of as bone.

Sory, but I think it is a mineral specimen.

[FranzBernhard]

Welcome to TFF from Austria!

Thanks for posting this, but this is not a fossil. It seems to be mostly druzy quartz - vugs in rocks coated with small quartz crystals. Such formations are not uncommon in some volcanic fields. Your area is famous for gold and silver deposits related to magmatic rocks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placerville,_Colorado

Franz Bernhard

[add71]

37 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Welcome to TFF from Austria!

Thanks for posting this, but this is not a fossil. It seems to be mostly druzy quartz - vugs in rocks coated with small quartz crystals. Such formations are not uncommon in some volcanic fields. Your area is famous for gold and silver deposits related to magmatic rocks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placerville,_Colorado

Franz Bernhard

Thank you for your reply. I’m not familiar with fossils or paleontology at all. My brother is a geologist and my father was a doctor(surgeon). I first identified it as quartz(druzy and smoky)along with gemmy rhodonite in a matrix of sandstone. The interior with the “dried blood” like material is what has me perplexed. I soaked a piece in water overnight and the water looked like blood in the morning. Anyway, thank you again!

Amber

Edited July 16, 2019 by add71
Photos of piece soaked in water overnight.

[daves64]

The "dried blood" stuff is most likely iron oxide staining (rust), some of which could have been a loose, powdery layer causing the water to turn red.

[Pemphix]

6 hours ago, daves64 said:

The "dried blood" stuff is most likely iron oxide staining (rust), some of which could have been a loose, powdery layer causing the water to turn red.

 

7 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Welcome to TFF from Austria!

Thanks for posting this, but this is not a fossil. It seems to be mostly druzy quartz - vugs in rocks coated with small quartz crystals. Such formations are not uncommon in some volcanic fields. Your area is famous for gold and silver deposits related to magmatic rocks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placerville,_Colorado

Franz Bernhard

 

Exact  !