Here’s a good sample, another one I inherited from Declan de Paor when he retired from Old Dominion University. It’s an interesting sample – I guess I’d call it a graphitic clay shale, but it’s surprisingly lightweight, so I’m not super confident that’s right. The bedding surfaces are glossy and slick, indicating some flexural slip between the layers. In terms of composition: It’s too beautiful to cut up and make a thin section, and of course I can’t ask Declan any more, so its 3D beauty will just have to speak for itself.
Looks sort of like a tooth cap. Horses’ teeth look like this, but squarer.
so.very.cool. Any idea where the specimen came from?