Dino bone Gemstone
Dino bone presents the rare opportunity to own a piece of natural history in unique fossil jewelry.
Most gemstones are crystallized minerals. Others, such as amber and pearl, are organic, meaning that they came from living creatures. Dino bone bridges the gap between organic and mineral. Dino bone stones are fossilized dinosaur remains. These fossils are fragments of bone that have had their organic components replaced by mineral elements over millions of years. In dino bone, silicate minerals like quartz and chalcedony replace the organic elements, creating something truly extraordinary! Sometimes these will be softer minerals, like calcite, but they don’t make good gem-quality material.
Besides dino bone, this intriguing material might be known in the gem trade as agatized dinosaur bone or gembone.
What Color is Dino Bone?
Dino bone possesses a rather wide range of possible color. Browns and blacks are most common, but reds, oranges, greens, and blues are all possible. Yellow is often considered a premium color and can be hard to find. Elements such as chromium, iron oxide and manganese all do their part to provide the unusual colors possible within dino bone.
Color alone doesn’t determine overall value, however. Experts and connoisseurs alike look for unusual patterns in material, influenced by the original bone structure. The most coveted dino bone will have banded cells of material, where there is a high contrast between the band around the cell and the color within. Multiple colors within a single specimen are also very attractive. Ultimately, each and every fossil has its own story to tell, and no two pieces of dino bone stone will ever be identical!
Why is Stability Important in Dino Bone?
Dino bone requires stabilization to increase the durability of the material. For nearly as long as fossils have been unearthed and displayed, paleontologists have been using various methods to stabilize and protect them. The same holds true in the gem world. A variety of glues and putties are used in stabilizing dino bone. Without this process, much of the fossils found by humanity would have deteriorated long ago.
Creating Dino Bone Jewelry
When shaping and polishing dino bone, a great amount of care is required. A cutter will need to take breaks throughout the shaping process to examine their work. More glue and putty will be applied if needed and left to dry. Due to the nature of the bonding agents, it can take several days, or even weeks, to shape pieces of dino bone as the grinding and gluing will be repeated over and over. Careful use of stabilizing agents and foresight in shaping the material increases dino bone's value. Expert cutters will be able to take common quality material and turn it into an object of great beauty by the time they are through.
Dino bone is most often shaped into cabochons for jewelry, though many other custom shapes are seen. This will be influenced by the form of rough the lapidaries are working. Jewelry of this material is perfect for anyone who's a fan of natural materials or organic gems, such as amber, peanut wood jasper, ammolite, and ammonite!
Telling Bone from Stone
• There are a few ways to identify a fossil from the host rock in which it's found. Fossils are only going to be found in particular rock formations. Within these formations, fossils might be identifiable by a smoother appearance and different color than the host rock. It might have a different hardness, too.
• If the potential fossil has any breaks in it, the internal structure can be viewed. With most fossils, the minerals that replace organic material will follow the structure of the original bone, and this will be represented in the fossil. Bone will have a spongy structure that stands out. Sometimes a tongue test will even be used. Since fossils have a porous nature, a person's tongue will stick slightly to a fossil if licked.
Disclaimer: Use of any stone or mineral is not a substitute for professional medical care or treatment, and nothing herein constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Information provided should not be used to treat any illness, injury, medical condition, or ailment without prior consultation with a qualified health professional.
GemGPS
Location: Utah
Dinosaur fossils exist around the world. However, gem-grade material is only found in a few places. Notably, the majority of gem-quality gembone comes from one area - the Colorado Plateau in the Southwestern United States. Here, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet.
Shop LC spent over four years searching for a dino bone supplier. A privately-owned ranch in Utah provides Shop LC our source of dino bone. Our buying team spent three whole days combing over material, finding the best gem-quality specimens for our dino bone jewelry.
Mining dino bone takes care, patience, and specialized equipment to extract from the ground. Miners must be careful so that fossil material isn't cut through during excavation.
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Dino bone ranks 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale.
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Primary colors are browns and blacks. Splotches of red, yellow and blue are possible.
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Sourced from a private ranch in Utah.
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Dino bone is stabilized for durability.
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May also be known as gembone or agatized dinosaur bone.