• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

This 71-Million-Year-Old Ammonite Is Also A Rare And Iridescent Gemstone

November 13, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Lovers of all things colorful and sparkly are in for a treat with an unusual variety of ammonite that’s set to go to auction later this month. The “gem” of an ammonite dates back 71 million years, and comes with a curious coating of ammolite, giving it a dazzling rainbow iridescence.

“A ‘Gem’ Ammonite in Matrix from the Bearpaw Formation in Alberta, Canada dates to the Cretaceous some 71 million years ago and exhibits superb iridescence,” say Heritage ahead of their Nature & Science Auction taking place on November 20. “It is a top representation of the Placenticeras costatum variety, which accounts for less than 10 percent of the Ammonites found in the singular locality.”

Advertisement

According to the American Gem Trade Association, ammolite is one of the world’s rarest gemstones. Ammonite fossils have been found across the globe, but the gemstone variety has so far only been attributed to the Bearpaw Geological Formation in Alberta, Canada. It was classed as a gemstone by the World Jewellery Confederation back in 1981, and is relatively soft on the hardness scale with a Mohs of 3.5 to 4 – not to be confused with toughness, which is a whole different thing in the world of minerals.

“This extraordinary piece [weighs] 24 kilograms (52.8 pounds) and offers superb color and an incredible matrix in both size and shape,” says Heritage. “The vibrant fossil measures 10 inches (25 centimeters) at maximum diameter and is visually stunning with a myriad of vivid reds, oranges, golds and greens, as well as the rarer purples and blues.” 

The ammolite ammonite joins a host of curious artifacts on sale at the Science & Nature Auction, including a 125-kilogram (275-pound) Siderite meteorite retrieved from a hotspot for meteorite hunters in Kansas. There’s also a fossil fish mosaic triptych from the Green River Formation Lagerstätte, Wyoming – with specimens dating back 50 million years – and a rare gold nugget from Alaska.

It’s been a big month for auction news, with a slice of mold medallion fetching a record-breaking $76,000 at Bonham’s History Of Science And Technology sale on October 23. And who could forget the ground-shaking sale of Apex the stegosaurus? A dinosaur that went for an eye-watering $44.6 million at auction in July, topping the previous record holder – Stan the T. rex – by over $10 million. 

Advertisement

Incredible stuff, but we might have to stick to the museum gift shops for now.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Cricket-Manchester test likely to be postponed after India COVID-19 case
  2. EU to attend U.S. trade meeting put in doubt by French anger
  3. Soccer-West Ham win again, Leicester and Napoli falter
  4. Was Jesus A Hallucinogenic Mushroom? One Scholar Certainly Thought So

Source Link: This 71-Million-Year-Old Ammonite Is Also A Rare And Iridescent Gemstone

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • 100 Years Since The Scopes (Monkey) Trial: How Much Has Changed Since America’s “Trial Of The Century”?
  • Elephants Use All Kinds Of Gestures To Communicate – They Just Want Apples
  • NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Finds Evidence Of “Barrier” In The Sun’s 2 Million Kelvin Atmosphere
  • Watching Videos At Higher Speeds May Save Time But It Has Some Drawbacks
  • In 2008, Ukraine’s Space Agency Sent A Message To Planet Gliese 581c. It Will Arrive In 2029
  • In A First, A Robot Listened To Spoken Instructions And Performed Surgery – Just Like A Human Would
  • Newly Discovered “Bone-Digesting” Cells Help Burmese Pythons Consume Every Last Bit Of Their Prey
  • Gold Can Be Made By Scientists In A Lab – There’s Just One Problem
  • Recovery Of 24-Million-Year-Old Protein Fragments From Extinct Animal Opens “New Chapter” Of Biology
  • 6 Leading Medical Organizations Team Up To Sue RFK Jr Over COVID-19 Vaccine Policy
  • Less Ice, More Fire: Evidence Melting Glaciers Make Volcanic Eruptions More Explosive
  • This Mini Fridge-Sized Spacecraft Could Study A Time Of The Universe We’ve Never Seen Before
  • Psilocybin Shows Potential In Slowing Human Cell Aging And Increasing Lifespan In Mice
  • Blue Sharks’ Freaky Tooth-Skin Makes It Possible For Them To Change Color To Green And Even Gold
  • Summer In The Northern Hemisphere Will Be 15 Minutes Shorter Than Last Year’s
  • Your Ability To Be Funny May Not Be Inherited After All, And That’s Really Unexpected
  • New Interstellar Comet Tracked To Its Origin Region: “It’s Much Older Than The Solar System”
  • ChatGPT Gets “Absolutely Wrecked” By An Atari Video Chess Game Built In 1979
  • Tick Bites Are Nearing Record Highs In Some US States – Why Is This Season So Bad?
  • Rivals Wanted To Erase This Great Female Pharaoh From History, But Is That The Whole Story?
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version