Fern fossil’s a rare find
A 585 million-year-old tree fern fossil is the centrepiece of Boris Ellis’s stunning collection of rare gemstones, minerals and relics.
The geologist and gemologist said he had been fossicking for treasures at Lune River more than usual during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said although interstate and overseas visitors normally made up 80 per cent of his market, the winter period had been busy for visitors to his Lunaris Gemstones shop.
Mr Ellis and his wife Chrystine Klimek sell and display rocks, fossils, gemstones and Tasmanian jewellery, with school groups sometimes visiting to watch gemstone cutting demonstrations.
The pair have more than 600 products for sale on their website, with the most popular product – a rare purple and green stichtite – attracting interest from as far away as Europe.
But Mr Ellis has said nothing in his exhaustive collection was as special as his “exquisite” 25cm diameter conifer tree fern trunk fossil.
“The fossil wood is quite plentiful down here but what is rare is finding a complete one,” he said.
He said tree fern fossils were found by digging through a layer of gravel about 1m underground. His agate and quartz crystal-filled piece was discovered 40 years ago by a collector.
Mr Ellis said he first took an interest in gems and rocks as a teenager when he joined his father fossicking at Lune River – the site of a Jurassic-era forest preserved 280 million years ago.
He said he still does a “bit of a jig or dance” when he finds an exciting piece.
“I’ve worked pretty hard at it but it’s not as if I’m working, it’s just fun,” he said.
The enthusiast said he has advocated for tree fern fossils to become the state fossil emblem.
“Tassie is a hotspot, we’re famous for so much in the mineral world,” he said.