Page 36 - visitorGuide

■ Jasper

Jasper is a hard, dense form of chalcedony (a variety of

quartz). Usually mottled in shades of red, yellow, and

brown, its colors come from finely divided iron oxide

minerals (hematite and goethite) mixed into its tiny

inter­locking quartz crystals. Jasper is often associated

with deposits of iron ore. It is valued as a gemstone and

for its ornamental qualities.

Gift from Lee Gladish, GSA staff member. Carved Elephant

■ Carved Elephant
This carved elephant is one of four such sculptures prob-
ably purchased by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr., during his travels in
Burma in 1901.The other three are located in the Penrose
Room on the first floor.

■ Curlew Decoy and Book
Hand-carved curlew decoy and copy 68 of 550 of American
Decoys, published 25 December 1972.

Gift from Volker Kerchoften.

■ Weathered Sandstone
This Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone from Grand County,
Colorado, has been weathered and shaped by wind-blown
sand, by rain and moisture, and by temperature extremes.The sandstone
itself is light in color, but a black coating developed while the boulder sat
exposed to the weather due to the oxidation of manganese and
iron deposited at its surface.

■ Ceremonial Gavel

The head of this ceremonial gavel is cut from jasper

conglomerate of Precambrian age from Bruce Mines,

Ontario.The handle is of wood that is about 60,000

years old.The wood was uncovered in an interglacial

peat bed at Les Vieilles Forges, nearThree Rivers, Quebec. Be-

cause the original handle was broken when the Council was

first called to order with it, the gavel is no longer used. Ceremonial Gavel

Gift from the Geological Survey of Canada, 1961.

■ Calcite “Angel Wings”

These pure white tabular crystals of calcite seem to form

angel wings.They possibly formed in a cavern, where the

delicate “wings” had room to grow.

Gift from Rose Ann Nyari. Wooden Cask

■ Wooden Cask
This cask, from the Waikato Valley of New Zealand, was
fashioned from wood that is at least 10,000 years old.The
wood is from the fire-ravaged remains of an ancient forest
that was covered by molten lava during a volcanic eruption.

Gift from Robert F. Legget, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, a former president of the Society.

■ Fossil Plants
The fossil plants preserved in this specimen grew in a swampy area 300 million
years ago. They were buried by dark muds that were eventually compressed
and cemented to form the black shale that now holds the thin carbon traces

26 VISITOR GUIDE