What Is Ammolite?

Nautilus

When people see Ammolite for the first time, they often mistake it for other stones.  I am often asked if it is fire opal, fire agate, or a type of specialized glass.  I have to smile - because it does and can look similar to all those different items.

Ammolite Fossil

But Ammolite is none of these.  It is actually the fossilized shell of an ancient sea animal that lived back during the dinosaur times (75-130 million years ago) called ammonites.  These ancient sea creatures resembled today's nautilus, with the exception that today's nautilus have very plain shells, whereas the ammonites of old had very brightly colored shells (or they became very bright during the fossilization process).

Ammolite:  fossilized shell that is considered a precious gemstone (like pearls or amber).

Ammonite:  the sea animal that lived back with the dinosaurs that created the ammolite shell.  
 

There are three main types of ammonites that fossilized to create Ammolite:  disk-shaped ammonites Placenticeras meeki and Placenticeras intercalare, and (to a lesser degree) the cylindrical baculite, Baculites compressus. 

Ammonites were cephalopods, or squid-like creatures, that thrived in tropical seas from the upper Cretaceous period until becoming extinct along with the dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic era.

Western Interior Seaway

Although varies species of ammonites lived all over the world, and their fossils can be found everywhere, the specific species that give us Ammolite lived within the Cretaceous or Western Interior Seaway.  Millions of years later, that seaway is long gone, and erosion has brought these fossils up to the surface.

The largest deposits of Ammolite have been found in Canada.  But other smaller deposits have been found in Montana, Utah, and North Dakota.  A small company in Utah has filed a claim and surface mined generous supply of Ammolite.  You can visit their website to get USA Ammolite at much lower prices than that being sold from Canada.  www.UtahSeafireGems.com