{"product_id":"large-druzy-petrified-wood-slab-from-brilliant-alabama-7-inch-fossil-wood-with-smoky-quartz-crystals-rare-diamond-rock-display-specimen-on-stand","title":"Large Druzy Petrified Wood Slab from Brilliant Alabama, 7 Inch Fossil Wood with Smoky Quartz Crystals, Rare Diamond Rock Display Specimen on Stand","description":"\u003cp\u003eA big slab of ancient wood wearing a coat of quartz crystal. Seven inches across, five tall, one pound eleven ounces in the hand, and it stands upright on the clear acrylic stand shown so the whole crystallized face reads at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe grain is the first thing you see, ridge after ridge of it running the length of the piece exactly as the tree grew. Then the light moves and the whole surface answers. The crust is a dense field of tiny smoky quartz points, gathered thickest along the low channels of the grain and thinning to bare honey and tan wood along the ridges. Turn it and different bands light up. Photographs get maybe half of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis came out of the ground near Brilliant, in Marion County, in the northwest corner of Alabama. It is one of a very small number of places on earth where petrified wood is found covered in quartz crystal like this, and people in that part of the state have called it diamond rock for generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow it happened is a good story. Something like eighty million years ago that corner of Alabama was a river delta running out into a shallow sea. Trees came down in the current, got buried in sand, and stayed buried. Silica rich groundwater moved through the sand for a very long time after that. In most petrified wood the silica simply replaces the wood cell by cell and you get stone in the shape of a tree. Here the water did that and then kept going, growing loose crystals into every open cavity until the surface was studded with them. That is what you are holding. The tree and the crystal, one on top of the other, and this piece is big enough to show the whole sequence at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCrystal lore holds petrified wood as the great steadying stone, the one you reach for when everything feels like it is moving too fast. It is old in a way almost nothing else you own is old, and keepers say it lends some of that long patience to a room. Smoky quartz is the settling stone, quiet and grounding, the one that draws off the day's static and gives nothing back but calm. Together on one piece they make something unusually restful to have nearby, a reminder that slow things last and that a great deal of beauty happens underground where nobody is watching. At this size it holds a room rather than a shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the exact piece in the photographs and there is not another one like it. It ships with the stand.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpecifications\u003cbr\u003eMaterial, petrified wood with druzy smoky quartz\u003cbr\u003eOrigin, near Brilliant, Marion County, Alabama\u003cbr\u003eSize, 7 inches wide by 5 inches tall\u003cbr\u003eWeight, 1 lb 11.3 oz\u003cbr\u003eStand, clear acrylic and wire display stand, included\u003cbr\u003eFormation, Cretaceous, roughly 80 million years old\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNatural stone will always vary. The crystal crust, the open grain and the worn edges are the record of how this piece formed and are part of the character of the piece rather than flaws.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause natural minerals are delicate and can be damaged by the stress of shipping, we are unable to accept returns. If your item arrives damaged, please contact us within 48 hours with photos and we will make it right.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gems \u0026 Stems","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44239529476174,"sku":"PW-SPM-02","price":165.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0732\/5666\/5166\/files\/upload-01-lifestyle_0737193d-508b-4996-bd04-eee9605310f4.jpg?v=1787953806","url":"https:\/\/shopgemsandstems.com\/products\/large-druzy-petrified-wood-slab-from-brilliant-alabama-7-inch-fossil-wood-with-smoky-quartz-crystals-rare-diamond-rock-display-specimen-on-stand","provider":"Gems \u0026 Stems","version":"1.0","type":"link"}