Oliver Simpson found this stone on a Slope Point beach at the bottom of the South Island. When he first showed it to me, I could see nothing in it. He then pointed to some very faint markings and mentioned “coral”. I don’t know whether the stone warmed in my hand and as a result showed the outlines of the coral septa (radiating plates as seen from above) more clearly, but I could then start to make out the faint shapes distinctive to coral.
A previous Post on fossil coral can be found here.
Oliver’s stone is a rare and enigmatic stone, rare because it is fossil coral, enigmatic because it does not seem to show itself easily in person. Oliver and I discussed whether it would be worth tumbling the stone, to bring out the coral shapes more clearly. I was reluctant to do anything to spoil such a rare specimen, but in the end I agreed to give it a go. I tumbled it in a very fine 600 grit for 9 days to see if any improvement occurred.
Removal of a very thin surface layer brought out the coral shapes in a brighter white. However, I was not keen to try more as I did not think further “improvement” or clarity could be achieved. So the stone then went into a pre-polish then a pro-polish tumble:
The end result is still enigmatic, and lacks some of the subtle beauty of the original stone. While the shapes of the coral can be seen more clearly, they appear harsh and not always cleanly defined.
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