They are felted on both the sides and bottom to protect the books and the shelf. The bookends sit perfectly upright and are completely square to one another. Of course, there are plenty of differences in the two halves, but the photo should let you appreciate how well we do this. These pieces are carefully cut in our shop so that you end up with a perfectly matched pair, one agate piece is the mirror image of the other. We select only the largest and showiest pieces of petrified wood to cut into bookends. The wood grain is very detailed as well and is well enough preserved that I can positively identify the fossil species as pepper wood! There's lots of fossilized algae framing the log and several pockets of golden calcite as well as blue agate that formed in voids. They actually look like they've been painted with an electronic paintbrush, but it's 100%25 natural color produced over millions of years of slow agate replacement of the original wood fossil. The agatized wood is a really rich combination of colors with black, blue and tan being the dominant shades. This is a highly prized deposit among wood collectors and one of the most beautiful in the world. The highly agatized fossil wood used in this set comes from the Blue Forest digs in Wyoming. This is a nice medium sized set of bookends from one of the most colorful petrified wood deposits in the US.

It's quite beautiful! This pair goes beyond yet another gorgeous set of petrified wood bookends - they are truly a once in a lifetime cut in a beautiful pair of natural works of art!

The back of one shows the botryoidal agate of the natural end of the log just barely escaping the edge of the saw cut. The face is polished to an absolutely mirror perfect finish. This gorgeous set has to be seen to be appreciated. The natural arch shape is the natural termination of the thick algae layer. The algae is more porous (a bit like concrete) and doesn't polish to the same degree that the highly agatized wood inside does, but the presentation is so unique and so beautiful that we just couldn't resist making this large set of bookends out of this unusual piece of stone! It's not common to find this stone with the algae still bound so tightly to the log that it can be cut like this. But this log still had the absolutely perfectly shaped algae cast around the entire outer rind and it's completely naturally formed with no damage. In most cases this algae has long since weathered away from the wood and is found only as a telltale clue on the desert floor that petrified wood might be nearby. The petrified wood pieces used in the set were discovered during the construction of power lines for the Bonneville Power Administration, a project on which Van Bruggen was an engineer.It's been quite some time since we've had a piece of Eden Valley petrified wood large enough to cut good bookends of this stature from but boy did this piece come through! This is one of the largest and most dramatic sets we've ever produced! They would look very impressive on a mantle or in a nice library. This very unusual log was still completely encased in the fossil algae that preserved these logs millions of years ago. The set was sent to Franklin Roosevelt in April 1943 by the maker, Peter J.

Historical Note This pair of bookends is part of a desk set that also includes a petrified wood paperweight (MO 1944.33.6). Adhered to the underside of one of the bookends is a small paper label with printed information that reads: PETRIFIED WOOD / FROM OREGON / P. Each bookend block has a step design cast into the front and sides. The pieces are mounted on blocks of solid concrete painted with sparkling off-white paint. Estimated to be over 30 million years old, the petrified wood is almost completely opalized and partly agatized. Physical Description A pair of bookends featuring pieces of petrified wood. Dimensions overall (each bookend) H 7 in x W 5 1/8 in x D 8 in (17.8 cm x 13 cm x 20.3 cm )

Petrified wood bookends