| None of these stones have been shaped or polished. Shown wet and natural shape. | How to know when you are buying a good Petoskey Stone |
| First I would like to tell a little about the Petoskey Stone. The Petoskey Stone is a fossilized coral that lived 350 million years ago during the Devonian age. The scientific name is hexagonaria Percarinata (six sided). The Petoskey Stone was a living flower animal and each hexagon was the tip of a single tentacle, which was where the food was absorbed. The tentacles were all pushed togeather and the plant petrified over millions of years. The coral was orignally red in color, sometimes you can still see the red color . |
 | The Petoskey Stone can be found along the shores of Lake Michigan and in the gravel pit and sometimes right in your backyard if you live in the north west part of Michigan. However, there is only a small area of Michigan that they can be found in abundants. This area is from north of Petoskey and as far south as Manistee and inland east as far as Cadillac. This photo is to show that the Petoskey stone ranges in sized from the size of the dime to very large. However, I would say that the average size is between 2" to 4" in diameter. The larger ones can be slabbed and cut into cab or and shape how you want. The smaller ones can be polish as is and used for paper weighs, knobs or just a beautiful specimen for any rock collection. |
 | The Petoskey Stone,as you see in this photo, has tentacles. The stone on the left shows the top of the tentacles, which is where the food was absorbed. The photo are the right shows the side view of the tentacles. The desired polished petoskey stone is the one with the top, hexagon tentacles showing. It just makes a nicer looking cab, paper weight or knob. |
 | The Petoskey Stone comes in different shades of browns. As you see in this photo you can see the very dark ones to the very light. All shades are as popular as any. |
| This Petoskey Stone is not the best because of the wholes, you will have to grind down past the hole to get to the nice part. However, it is workable. |
| This Petoskey Stone has a section (right side)where it has been filled with mud and then petrified. Many Petoskey stone have sections that are filled with petrified mud. Sometimes it may be mostly mud. The more mud, the less desireable it is. This one has only a small section of mud, so it would still be considered a good one. Sometime the whole top is petoskey and the whole bottom is mud. If this happens, then I usually only polish the top half. However, the mud is the same hardness and will polish, too. Notice the red on the stone. |
| This photo is to show one with the red still in it....remember, the Petoskey Stone was red when it was a coral in the Sea. There are not many with the red still in it. |
 | This Petoskey Stone is very porous and is not a good one for polishing. It will not take a polish. It has been out in the wind and rains for years. |
 | This Petoskey Stone is a very nice one. Notice how the white lines are not very noticeable. However, it is a very good quality one. Note that all of these good ones are very smooth. They have been rolled in the water and sand by nature, therefore, they are very easy to work with. Not much shaping needed. Just the polishing steps. You can start with a 200 grit. |
 | This Petoskey Stone is a also very nice one. |
 | This is a very nice one. Notice the darker minerial deposites. |
 | This Petoskey Stone has long tentacles on the sides and hexogon on the top. This is a very nice one. |
 | This Petoskey Stone would be considered a beauty. The white lines are very predominate and the centers are dark. |
 | This Petoskey Stone has some minerial deposites, however it is considered a very attactive one. |