Turritella Agate (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

Turritella Agate is fossiliferous agate found that formed about 50 million years ago in the Green River Formation of Wyoming which has produced spectacular fish, plant, insect, and animal fossils. The material is easily recognizable due to the fact that is hosts distinct and good sized white to tan colored fossil snail shells that really jump out against the brown colored agate background. Interestingly enough, the material was misnamed as the first person to recognize that it hosted snail shells mistakenly thought the species was a member of the marine Turritella genus. It turns out that the snails are acutallly, Elimia tenera, a member of the Pleuroceridae family, but the name Turritella Agate was already published in magazines and other publications, and the name stuck. This piece is a wonderful example of said material featuring a plethora of beautiful fossilized snail shells tightly packed and frozen into the brown agate. Good quality and size. The gem comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff Sr. (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). Later in Wulff's life, he took an affinity to cutting cabochons, and this particular stone was in fact cut and polished by Wulff. There is a label from Wulff attached to the back of the stone.