lovely stone for a naive guy

Hi "stone" lovers.
im not into stone collection so i am completely naive in rules and guidelines in collecting and displaying. but i know how to appreciate the art...probably like a small kid looking at 'monalisa".

so... I found this rock in some store here. i got interested in the flower pattern...i think its lovely. i bought it for $10.
if you guys could give me some insight on this stone, il appreciate it much. im not sure what kind of stone or display it would be.
do I have to polish it? crack it? break it then polish it again?










my hand for scale





regards,
jun

The polished flower-pattern stone's contour suggests an engaging cove entrance to mountain.

Would you be happy placing it is a deep tray and partially covering the stone with coarse sand or pebbles to reveal its mountain contour extending in all directions from the peak? That placement suggest the proper angle for placement of the stone in mountain shape.

Can you share a front view of the stone indicating the depth of rock underneath its mountain contour? It would be ideal to suggest the mountain with only a shallow wood seat underneath. Imagining the placement angle as in the tray noted above, could the stone balance on a wood seat of limited height underneath the stone and revealing much of the naturally undercut portion below the mountain contour?

I'm sorry to not know the source of this distinct pattern. The pattern recalls a culturally significant Korean intaglio-engraved porcelain pattern with white flowers on a green matrix.

I'm almost certain it's a fossil coral. I've got some very similar. Very likely to be a (naturally or human) polished piece of limestone. Do the flower shapes extend into more tubular shapes around the edges?

A very attractive shape and pattern, whatever it turns out to be.

Have a scroll through these and I'm sure you'll find an identical pattern.
http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=polished+fossil+coral&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1104&bih=525

Great catch, Kevin. Thanks for the link!

Kev,

thanks!
I checked the link out. there are some stones similar to mine, i guess you are right.

regards,
jun



Chris,

thanks.
here is the front view.







regards,
jun

Wood seating possibility:


Tray possibility:

I saw an interesting way to display stones like this in Nanjing, China last week. They call them "Rain Stones" and submerge them in a bowl of water. The water really brings out the detail of the coral.

It does make sense, Billy!
Corals live into the sea (water). So displaying the stone submerged into water just resembles the physical environment of the stone. Plus the fact that the design detail of coral is significally toned.
(This is the view of an absolutely ignorant - me.... )

Billy, could you please tell us some information about the kind of the "vessel" into which the stones are submerged.
Thank you!

I will try to upload photos of the China trip when I recover a little more from the jet lag. I was up over 36 hours (with naps on airplanes) getting from Tianjin to Orlando. I slept well last night but probably need another day.

The stones were all displayed in bowls or cups. Chinese style of course. The smaller stones in teacups, the larger in rice bowls.

One of the coral stones like this was about $2100 USD.

Billy,
thanks.

il try so submerged the stone in water then il post the photo...if my camera can take the details well.

my 10$ stone is 2100$ in china? really?

regards,
jun

I think this is exciting, I mean this kind of display for these particular stones!

alexandra,

thanks.
btw, hows your ficus order doin?

regards,
jun


Chris,

thanks for the virtual.
I'll study well your suggestion.

regards,
jun


Kev,

thanks.

regards,
jun

hi there jun,
i have several stone similar the oneyou have,will post it soon,i was able to make a daiza to it,hope you will like it,
regards,
alex/ogie

The coral stone would be more traditionally displayed as Billie notes. Coral fossils are not the traditional suiseki material for placement on a daiza & polished or fossil stones aren't traditional material for placement of landscape views which should be wetted to appreciate slow drying. Still, I'd relish such a stone for less exacting technique but as a strongly-felt "Landscape Viewing Stone displaying Flowers."

Look up "Rain Flower Stones." You will see colorful agates that are placed in water to best see their color. IBC contributor Peter Aradi is a collector and specialist in these. IBC once had a contributing member who was an official in the stone group preparing for a Chinese national exhibit of Rain Flower "Yunhua" Stones.

Ogie,
thanks dre.

regards,
jun


Chris,

thanks. that would help me a lot. i'll also try to dig up on some older posts here in the forum, and see what i can find.
thanks again on your guidance.

regards,
jun