Who Knew ? Its a Dinosaur Bone Ring !!

We received an unusual ring in an estate lot and I just put it in the pawn shop with “unknown” stone. A gracious reader pointed out to me that it could be petrified dinosaur bone !

After some research, I think he is correct, so thank you Roger !

Here is the ring and a bit about dino bone.

Sterling Silver Navajo RingsDinosaur bones sometimes undergo a natural process where the original bone material is replaced with chalcedony, a fine-crystalled quartz. Rarely, some of this agatized material has the color, clarity and other characteristics suitable for jewelry.

Dinosaur “gem bone” is from the Jurassic Age and is from 136,000,000 to 145,000,000 years old, It is found almost exclusively in a relatively small region in the American Southwest called the Colorado Plateau, an area once teeming with dinosaurs. It is illegal to collect dino bone on US state or federal lands thus making agatized dinosaur bone more valuable.

Dino bone ranges in color from brown to black with splotches of red, blue and bright yellow. Dark yellow-gold and red dinosaur bone is also found, but is more rare. The coloring of the specimen is due to impurities that were in the surrounding sediment.