During the Devonian to the Cretaceous periods, the right conditions had to be in place for an ammonoid mollusk to fossilize as an ammonite. As the ancient seas receded, the ammonoids were buried by layers of bentonite sediment. This sediment preserved the aragonite of their shelled remains, preventing it from converting to calcite. A very thin sheet of material on the surface of the creature's shell, between approximately 0.5 to 0.8 millimeters, opalized and those rare areas are called an ammolite.
Kateri Quandelacy Sanchez's reversible ammolite fetish hosts Corn-maidens, Zuni Sunface and Grandmother. Facial features are etched and darkened with jet paste on either gold lip shell or mother-of-pearl. The Zuni Sunfaces are inlaid stone to stone from either apple coral, gold lip shell, both blue and green turquoises and sugilite. Nestled below them is an ancient pueblo village. Many pink coral, red coral, both green and blue turquoises, plus rare sugilite accent them. This collectible masterwork is about 5" tall, 4 1/4" wide and 1" deep.
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