SiS: PINK & BLACK Opalized 12" Petrified Wood Slab - Unknown Loc - ESTATE Piece!

Description

This is a really gorgeous, well preserved and highly silicified petrified wood slab in one of the most unique color combinations you'll ever come across!  I know that I have seen these distinctive pieces before but I have been unable to identify the location despite my best efforts.  There is no mistaking this unique color and if any of the folks who follow our work know and care to share the info I will update the listing when I hear something.  What I can say is that it is a very colorful and artfully preserved conifer.  It would be easy to mistake the black tube shapes on the rind for palm roots and before I looked at it under magnification I thought they might be.  But in fact theose are dendrites that formed within the opal rind of the log.  The growth structure of a conifer is visible in several areas under strong magnification but beyond that I don't have any locality or species info.  This slab was part of the Duward Whitney collection but it lacks any labels aside from a sticker noting the surface area on the back.  We touched up the polish on this specimen in our shop to really show it off properly.  It's a really beautiful specimen but it has me completely stumped.  Duward collected throughout the west, midwest and down through Texas as well.  It could be any of these regions and perhaps someplace else.
This amazing piece comes to us from the
Duward Whitney estate collection and it is really a fantastic specimen.  The slab appears to be a very solid, partially complete cross section from a highly silicified and mostly fracture free log.  It has rich color and exceptionally clean wood structure preserved in the piece.  The
polished face is mirror perfect and really lets the piece shine.  It's one of a small number that I've been asked to handle from the estate collection and the only piece like it in the entire collection.  It is very nicely agatized and took a magnificent polish as only the best grades of petrified wood can.
This slab was part of the Duward Whitney estate collection.  Duward was a Kansas collector that had amassed a world class collection of nearly 1200 museum grade petrified wood specimens in the latter half of the 20th century.  Shortly before his death he sold his entire petrified wood collection to a single collector in 2014.  This slab is one of the few pieces from that collection to finally make it back in circulation for a new collector to cherish.  Duward collected petrified wood from all over the world but, like many, was particularly fond of the gem grade wood found in the Pacific Northwest.  I've had the pleasure of seeing this collection first hand and admired gorgeous specimens from locations in the central US that I'd not previously heard of.  Duward had some really unique, old stock Arizona petrified wood and this piece is one of them.  The vast majority of his collection remains in tact in the hands of another private collector who has asked me to assist with offering a few duplicates to balance the collection.
This is a large, fairly complete cross section slab from the center of the log and measures about 12 1/2"  x 78" across the polished face.  It is cut about 0.58" thick.  Weight is about 3.22
lbs.
A nice, unique natural wonder collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary!
Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary
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On Jan-14-23 at 15:14:39 PST, seller added the following information:
There is a typo in the dimensions.  The reference to 78" should simply be 7" (the shorter dimension).  Apologies for the missed fat finger error.