Ammolite

An ammolite specimen from Alberta, Canada. The raw material, in the form of a flat shell fragment, documents the original aragonite layer of a Cretaceous ammonite.

The typical ammolite shell thickness is 0.5-1 mm, which is extremely thin for a gemstone material. This thinness is both a gemmological characteristic and a processing challenge: jewelry pieces are usually processed as a triplet (slate-ammolite-quartz sandwich) to achieve mechanical stability.

Unstabilized raw pieces like this are the paleontological variant; they show the natural material in its original geometry. For collectors who prioritize paleontologically documented material authenticity, these are the preferred form.

The material comes from the Bearpaw Formation on the St. Mary River in Alberta. Field excavation is carried out under lithostratigraphic control.

A Canadian collector's item with unprocessed layer thickness (0.5-1 mm) and paleontological raw material classification.