This pendant is just plain cool. When looking for new designs to offer I never dreamed a cast would make a good design but I am very pleased with the result!
Though the main design of the piece is from an ammonite, the fossil is actually just a cast of where an ammonite was once located, leaving its shape and detail indented in the mudstone. What makes our fossil unique and so appropriate for mold making is the composition. Typically, these casts occur in relatively soft oceanic rock, however, this one has been pryritized! This means the material that originally made up the cast was replaced by the mineral pyrite (fools gold) making it very hard and suitable for mold making. The shape of the fossil was also a happy accident. Even though the piece is not complete, we feel that it adds a certain uniqueness to the overall design. It reminds us of a crashing wave.
This particular fossil originated in an outcrop located in Germany dating to the Jurassic period. This period occurred during the Mesozoic and is estimated to have occurred between 199.6 to 145.5 million years ago. This is also one of our larger pendants at an inch and a half in diameter, but this was a relatively small animal. These ammonites were known to grow over three feet in diameter. We hope you enjoy this piece just as much as we do!