3/21/2023 0 Comments Ammonite jewelry![]() ![]() Since then, the Blackfoot have used ammolite for good fortune in hunting, and for use in healing and ceremonies. The next morning, a herd of buffalo appeared on the plains. The stone spoke to her and told her to take it back to her camp and pray for the buffalo to return. The rounded stone resembled a sleeping buffalo. A woman heard singing in the trees and followed it to find a piece of ammonite fossil resting on buffalo hair. The legend has a few versions, but one tells of a freezing winter when buffalo were scarce and the Blackfoot people were starving. Ammolite is found in Blackfoot Nation medicine bundles, where it’s known as “iniskim,” the sacred buffalo stone. Though ammolite is just hitting its stride as the world’s newest official gemstone, it has long been revered in different cultural legends. The Discovery Channel, which produced a documentary on ammolite called it the “sleeping beauty of the gem world.” Ammolite is one of only two organic gemstones in the world – the other is the pearl. ![]() Southern Alberta ammolite is the most uniquely colored anywhere, and the only variety that has official gemstone status. Korite mines ammolite in the Bearpaw Formation, and is the world’s largest producer of ammolite gemstones and ammonites. The shells, ranging in size from tiny up to more than three feet in diameter, were transformed into brilliant ammolite thanks to the right combination of minerals, temperature, pressure and time. Ammonites were prolific in those prehistoric waters, and as the sea retreated, their empty shells were embedded in what’s called the Bearpaw Formation. Each piece of ammolite began life as a squid-like creature called an ammonite. The journey began during the Cretaceous period, about 71 million years ago, in the waters of the Bearpaw Sea that once covered parts of southern Alberta. Its beautiful face is the result of an amazing voyage through time. The Korite pendant is made from ammolite, an organic gemstone that was given official gemstone status by the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) Coloured Stone Commission in 1981. It’s available today thanks to the experts at Korite International, a Calgary-based company that created the ammolite industry 40 years ago. It’s taken literally millions of years and the work of many dedicated individuals to bring this uniquely Canadian work of art to market. The gemstone in it – one of the rarest in the world – has been mined, cleaned, cut, polished, designed and set, all by hand. Its blazing colors resemble the expressive handiwork of an artist. T he pendant at her neck glows like a burst of rainbow fire. ![]()
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