Purple and Dark Opal Lightning Ridge Opalized Pinecone - 4.6 Carats, 12mm x 10mm

This opalized pinecone from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia, measures 12mm x 10mm and weighs 4.6 carats. It displays a striking blend of purple tones with iridescent flashes of blue and green. This specimen retains the detailed conical structure of the original plant material, providing a remarkable window into prehistoric flora and functioning as an exceptional collector's item.

Opalized fossils, including this pinecone, arise through an extraordinary geological mechanism within the Griman Creek Formation, wherein silica-laden groundwater gradually substitutes the organic components of interred remains over extended periods, yielding resilient, gem-grade replicas.

Originating from the Early Cretaceous era, roughly 110 million years ago, these fossils stem from an epoch when the area constituted a coastal plain bordering the expansive Eromanga Sea. The pinecone derives from ancient coniferous trees, such as Araucarian, podocarp, or Kauri pines, which are gymnosperms rather than angiosperms; these plants dominated the forested landscapes, producing cones as reproductive structures that facilitated seed dispersal in prehistoric ecosystems.

Lightning Ridge stands as one of the rare global sites yielding such opalized terrestrial plant remains, rendering this fossil a significant emblem of Australia's paleobotanical legacy.