Unearthing Deep Time with Refined Insight: THE BECKY STONE understood

Geological Origin and Discovery

  • Location: Recovered from a private patented gold mine in Iowa Hill, California, situated within an ancient, cemented river channel, dating back to the late Cretaceous period. Discovered in an air pocket, after a dynamite charge was detonated.

  • Initial Source: The petrified stump was placed in mine owner Kathy Morgans personal rock garden, and later gifted to Mr. Lloyd Dirk as a present to his wife Rebecca. After being used as a door stop for a short time, it was discovered to contain opal, and the discoveries of what it contains are still being uncovered.

  • Naming: The specimen was officially named "The Becky Stone" in honor of Becky Dirk, wife of co-curator Mr. Lloyd Dirk.

Physical and Scientific Characteristics

  • Weight and Composition: Weighing exactly 23 pounds, the specimen is a Cretaceous-era Birdseye Maple (Bursera fagaroides) stump featuring an intact, structural root mass.

  • Opalization & Inclusions: Formed through millions of years of silicification and opalization, the wood exhibits gemstone-quality fire alongside rare precious metal inclusions embedded within the grain.

  • Entomological Significance: The specimen serves as a critical paleobiological archive, preserving ancient wood-boring insect activity, including detailed tunnels, a pupal chamber, frass, cellular remains, and what is identified as preserved wood-boring beetle larvae (suspected to belong to Cerambycidae or Buprestidae).

Modern Curation and Presentation

  • Lapidary Work: World-renowned Master Lapidary and artist Marshall Curran performed precise cutting and polishing to unveil the internal opalization and identified the precious metal inclusions within the specimen.

  • Custom Encasement:

    • Housed in a precision-milled red cedar heartwood presentation box (kiribako).

    • Supported by a hand-carved, custom-fitted Cocobolo Rosewood display base (daiza) engineered to match the exact contours of the root mass.

  • Exhibition Elements: Accompanied by hand-burned Japanese text layouts on a custom Cocobolo Rosewood display placard.

  • Current Status: Fully curated and prepared for international auction presentation and private museum-grade collection acquisition, with outreach coordinated through international channels and academic specialists.

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The Becky Stone and all of Her supporting cast members. Each piece sits atop a custom, hand-carved Cocobolo Rosewood Daiza. Her display box is hand-crafted from Red Cedar Heartwood. Her storage box is crafted from Antique Romanian Beechwood.

The Becky Stone with Her museum grade display.

Macro-photography of ancient insect larvae.

A macro photo of ancient wood beetle larvae. Note the contour of the larvae body and that it contains the same distinctive Birdseye markings in black. Are the larvae host to the fungus of the tree? We are still trying to get answers and will update this question.

The Becky Stone floats above Her Cocobolo Rosewood Daiza.

The Becky Stone floats atop Her Cocobolo Daiza.

The "Universe Stone". Named for it's swirling mysteries, just like our Universe!

A finished cut opal from the root mass area, called; “The Universe Stone.”

A shot of the "Wood-Boring Beetle Larvae Specimen", the larvae bare in the center of the piece, visible by the rounded contours of their bodies.

A section of the root mass area that shows the ancient larvae within the root mass. They are in the center of the photo.

Another macro-photo of the native metallic inclusions within the opal matrix.

This photo clearly shows gold inclusions within the opal matrix. Silver, Mercury and Copper have also been observed. You can see the silver to the left of the gold.