Jewellery & Watch News
So you think you know Whitby Jet?
It surprises a lot of people to hear that Whitby Jet is in fact fossilised monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria). A tree that existed in forests along the Jurassic coastline around Whitby. After a tree died it would fall into the sea, sink to the bottom after becoming waterlogged and then become buried in sediment and detritus. Being starved of oxygen and under the pressure of millions of tonnes of rock it would take around 180 million years for the transition to take place into a hard workable gemstone.
Fancy having a go at some jet hunting? All you need is a pair of keen eyes, some sandpaper and a bit of patience. Making sure the tide is right, look on the beaches around Whitby for any likely looking black materials and check by scratching it on your sandpaper, if it marks black then unfortunately you've only found some coal, but if it marks brown then, hey presto! you've struck black gold.
