Glaciers moved rocks, fossilized #ancient #coral, bedrock and soil throughout what is now Michigan millions of years ago, carving out the Great Lakes and depositing a wealth of natural treasures beneath them. Over time, the waves churned these waters and in turn polished pieces into rocks of all shapes, sizes and configurations—including Petoskey stones.

In the early 1900s, there were mentions of Petoskey stone in regional newspapers, but these referred to rocks harvested from shoreline gravel banks by the Petoskey Stone & Lime Company (incorporated in 1904), not the identifiable hexagon laden stones coveted and collected today.

One of the earliest printed accounts of actual “Petoskey stones” appeared in a handful of newspapers in October 1923—including the Palladium-Item of Richmond, Indiana and The Ithaca Journal in Ithaca, New York—as part of a Q&A section, authored by Information Bureau Director Frederick J. Haskin out of Washington D.C.

#Petoskey #stone is silicified #fossil and is polished like agate. Various polishing powders, such as tin-oxide, chromium-oxide and iron-oxide are used.