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I joined with the hopes that someone here may know more about Natlandite fossil stone. My wife inherited a polished three piece set and unfortunately there is very little information available about it online. Within the two articles I could find we have learned that "it was first discovered in 1954 in Los Angeles, Ca. by geologist Manley L. Natland, during a small dig he made in his offices backyard. He was given a rock brought up during soil testing for an annex to the old Atlantic Richfield Building at 6th and Flower streets. Natland estimated the fossil stone to be between 5 to 7 million years old and said that it was likely formed when an earthquake dislodged a great mass of sludge from the Los Feliz area (then the seashore) and moved it to the Arco site, where it solidified. He had it cut and polished, revealing shells of bivalves, gastropods and coral in a marble like material, but thought no more about it until 1969, after he had retired from Atlantic Richfield, now Arco. That year, he asked to examine the excavation site where the building and it's annex were being torn down to make way for Arco towers, now known as City National Plaza. What he found was an entire bed of the fossil stone that he had seen years earlier. Natland arranged to have 500 tons of it hauled away and eventually had the rock cut and shaped into tables and statuary. The rock is about as hard as quartz and it contains about 350 different species. It was also named the official gemstone of Los Angeles in 1981." I have spoken with a paleontologist here at our local museum of natural history and he stated that he believes that some record of the stones should be preserved in a museum, if that has not already happened. He gave me the contact information of a paleontologist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and suggested that I contact them, as they would be the most appropriate place to store such fossils. They are absolutely beautiful pieces and any info or suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for taking time to read my post. Brandon Massey