These works are intended for customers who appreciate finely crafted, one of a kind pieces of jewelry made from top quality, world class Petrified Wood discovered by us (Joyce and Chuck Nicholson) on Cape Breton Island in 2001. We combine our love of prospecting with mineral preparation and jewelry fabrication to create pendants, earrings, and bracelets from these fine semi precious gemstones. Our jewelry is best described as conversational pieces used to educate the public on the geological history of Nova Scotia.
Production Process
Prospect for Petrified Wood specimens in Cape Breton
Slice logs using lapidary saw
Shape and remove any fractures
Sort for tumbling process
Tumble and shine for minimum 6 weeks in a jewelry tumbler
Wire wrap using either sterling silver or 12k gold filled wire
Set earrings and bracelets using sterling silver or gold filled bellcaps
Set for 24 hours and then remove excess glue
Pendants are set on our handmade soft suede cord
Each piece is priced according to size and rarity of stone
Each piece is then photographed and uploaded for selling to you
Among the Oldest in the World
The forces that created Cape Breton Island’s Petrified Wood deposits have been at work for hundreds of millions of years.During the Devonian period (320-350 million years ago), two super continents, Gondwanda and Laurasia, ‘collided’, creating the Appalachian Mountain Range, with the territory of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia crushed within it.
At this time, trees were just beginning to spread across the earth’s surface as a predominant form of vegetation.The mountain-building forces just described, however, caused tremendous amounts of volcanic activity and these first trees were sometimes buried in sudden and heavy showers of volcanic ash.Approximately 350 million years ago, a volcano erupted violently in our region, setting in motion the process that created the petrified wood specimens we present to you today.
This interesting set of geological circumstances are not known to have occurred anywhere else in the world during that time frame, making our Island’s petrified wood fossils among the oldest in the world, and the jewelry we fashion from it truly remarkable and unique.
Our Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Petrified Wood jewellery is of gem quality equal in hardness to amethyst or citrine. (See Mohs scale below) These tumbled pieces are, each one, singular mosaics of striated earthtones, in combinations or red, brown, orange, black, rose and grey.
**Ancient Treasures’ petrified wood fossils are of gemstone quality, rating 7.0 on the Mohs Scale of mineral hardness.The scale, created in 1812 by German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, rates the absolute hardness of minerals based on ‘scratchability’.It is based on 10 readily available minerals: talc (1), calcite (3), amethyst (7), and diamond (10).
What is Petrified Wood
Petrified wood is basically the fossilized remains of long dead trees and plants.‘Petrification’ is the process by which the fibrous organic tissues are gradually replaced by silica or calcite.It occurs when trees are buried suddenly under heavy sediment, creating an oxygen free environment which promotes petrification and beautifully preserves the resulting fossils.
Mystic Lore
Petrified Wood provides you a good base to stand upon when making life changes and looking for strength to carry you through a crisis period. Intuitive sources say Petrified Wood is useful for bringing patience to those in a process of slow inner transformation, and for bringing that change to fruition. It is said to help one strengthen one's 'backbone', both physically and in terms of self-will.
It is also said to be good for grounding and stabilizing one's emotions. It is particularly useful in calming survival-based fears.
It can also aid in the elimination of worries concerning those things of little importance, bringing with it the motto ‘change what you can, and worry not about the rest’. It provides for strength in all areas of your life and is also a stone for grounding.
It also provides support to anyone coming through a crisis period of a disease, providing insight into why the suffering has occurred and the lessons, which can be learned from dealing with it. Petrified Wood is also a stone of transformation, assisting you to advance to your highest chosen level.
