Nicedony
4.1" Serpentine Hand Carved Crystal Snail
4.1" Serpentine Hand Carved Crystal Snail
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What you are buying
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Natural rough only
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Never dyed or treated
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Carved from one block
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Cut by hand, not moulded
A snail cut from a single block of serpentine, 4.1 inches, 280 g.
Serpentine is a hydrous magnesium silicate — softer than quartz and noticeably waxy to the touch once polished. It carves cleanly, which is why it has been used for detailed work across so many cultures, and its greens run from olive to near-black within a single block.
Worked in the round from a single block, with the form chosen to suit what that block could give rather than imposed on it.
Item ID 3100020
Material 100% natural serpentine
Size 4.1 × 1.7 × 2.5 in (105 × 42 × 63 mm)
Weight 280 g
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Ships worldwide. This piece is held at our workshop and ships internationally.
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One of a kind
Every carving is cut from its own block of rough. The photographs on this page show the exact piece you will receive — not a sample from the same batch.
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Natural stone, untreated
100% natural stone, never dyed or reconstituted. Veins, inclusions and small shifts in colour are how the material formed; they are marks of origin rather than faults.
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Carved by hand
Cut, shaped and polished by hand. Proportions differ a little from piece to piece because each one follows the block it came out of.
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Checked and packed
Hand-inspected before dispatch and shipped in shockproof packaging.
Serpentine — The Shed Skin
Named for snakeskin, carved everywhere, and softer than almost anything it sits beside.
Serpentine is a hydrous magnesium silicate named for its mottled resemblance to snakeskin. It is noticeably softer than quartz and waxy to the touch once polished, which is why it has been carved across so many unconnected cultures — it is the stone people reach for when they want detail and do not have hard-stone tools.
Its greens run from olive to near-black within a single block, and it takes a smooth finish that reads warm rather than glassy.
Leaving Something Behind
The snake association gives serpentine its most consistent traditional reading: renewal through discarding rather than through acquiring.
Keep it through the period you are trying to leave, not after.
Rising
In Indian tradition serpentine is linked with the coiled energy at the base of the spine and with its unhurried release.
Traditionally held at the base of the spine during seated practice.
Close to the Ground
Its magnesium chemistry and its colour both tie it to the earth in traditional readings.
Set it low — a shelf near the floor rather than at eye level.
Carve-able, Breakable
Softer than quartz, serpentine marks more easily than the stones it usually sits beside on a shelf.
Keep it apart from harder pieces rather than among them.
Why We Carve Animals
Animals in stone are old — older than writing. What a carved animal carries is whatever its own culture gave it: the elephant's memory, the owl's night sight, the bear's patience. The stone lends its own weight to the borrowing.
Keep it in view rather than in storage; these are traditionally companions rather than talismans.
Cut, not created
We believe a carving should carry the memory of the stone it came from. Every piece is cut from natural material, one at a time, and none of them repeat.