Gorgeous Freeform KONA DOLOMITE Sculpture--2+ Billion Yrs Old--Michigan--Signed!

Description

I'm pleased to offer this beautiful freeform sculpture of Kona Dolomite from the Lindberg quarry, Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan. The sculpture measures approximately 5 x 4 x 2 inches or 12.5 x 10 x 5cm and was sculpted and polished by my dear friend and former collecting partner, Roger King of Byron Center, Michigan. Roger and his wife Arlene have spent several weeks collecting sculpting materials in Michigan over the years and this is from material that Roger collected. The piece weighs 1 lb 8.4 ounces or .69kg. Roger signed the piece on the bottom 2019. I have met up with the King's at Tucson over the past several years and each year Roger has a new batch of sculptures for me to consider. I've bought and sold quite a few of them--some of my buddies here have several different examples and I have a half dozen on display in our home.
Kona Dolomite was named for the Kona Hills in the region and is well known, at least in the Midwest, to lapidarists. The material takes a great polish and the quarry owners allow one or two collecting trips each year into the quarry for local clubs. The color variation in the dolomite is striking but most of it seems to be off-white to greyish with typical swirls and bands owing to fossilized stromatolite material and brecciation. This stuff is over 2 billion years old. The beautiful coloration on this piece is due to iron impurities in the dolomite. I've had samples of Kona Dolomite over the years...from rather blah buff colored pieces to wonderfully colored pieces as seen in this example. This is a fantastic example of this popular rock found only in Michigan to my knowledge. This has a soft polish and nuanced faces formed by Roger. Interesting side story! When I was in grade school, two of my friends would sometimes bring fluorite crystal specimens to school and would offer them to me for 25 cents each. Back then, a candy bar was 10 cents so a quarter could snag a candy bar and a can of pop! They were neighbors of Roger King and I didn't meet Roger until I was out of high school and joined the local rock and mineral club. When I learned where he lived, I told him that Ken A. and Ken F. on either side of his house sold me specimens that they no doubt got from him. He relayed that he gave them specimens to get them interested in minerals when they were kids but he had no idea that they were selling them at school!
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All specimens are carefully wrapped, come with complete and accurate labels and are quickly shipped. As always, your complete satisfaction is unconditionally guaranteed
and I even offer FREE return shipping on any item that fails to satisfy for any reason---you can't go wrong. I'm reminded of the firm pledge printed on the old Foote Mineral Company mineral catalogs from more than a century ago,
"Quality of specimens is assured as we permit return of specimens at our expense."
Thanks for looking!
I buy collections! Please contact me if you have a collection for sale or know of one that is available. I will pay a finder's fee to anyone that can point me to an eventual purchase!