TM

Limited Edition
Natalie's Southern Star
Chalice


Limited Edition Natalie's Southern Star Chalice Original Art Petit Seed Colony.
Possibly a new class of corallite pigmentation patterns for chalices.
Corallites develop lines radiating outward from the mouth in spoke-like patterns.
Corallite group above exhibits these radiating lines also similar to firework streamers.
The main surface contains a thick bluish and pinkish pigment mix.
Corallites ringed in pink with gold spokes over a background rainbow pigment mix.
Image Copyright © 2010 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

An incredibly pigmented new chalice exported from Australia. Corallites contain amazing radiating lines or spokes that are very distinct and possibly represent a new class of pigmentation patterns for the chalice Echinophyllia group of corals. The original Watermelon Chalice corals contain dots of pigments within their corallite centers. This possible new class contains finely drawn very unique spokes or streamers radiating outward from the corallite mouth. Corallite mouths and radiating lines are golden. Corallite background is a smoothed mix of pink, blue, yellow and green. Prominant ridges circle the corallite, which also develops a bright pink inner ring. Surface pigments are a thick mix of bluish and pinkish with upper areas almost whitish in coloration.

The coral was initially located at the retail reef shop The Fish Collection located in Placentia Southern California. Jimmy Tao originally imported the chalice from Australia. Jimmy still maintains the main colony section in his private collection. Art Petit, Steve Tyree and Nick visited The Fish Collection, while on a reef shop tour of Orange County California, just two days before New Years Eve 2011. A small seed section colony of this incredible chalice was located in the upper center section of a Fish Collection main display reef. It was difficult to observe the complete detail of the color patterns within the chalice at that time. The chalice was positioned high and we were observing the chalice almost from a sideways perspective. It was obvious however that there was some very special pigment qualities within this chalice. Art Petit acquired that seed coral and the Petit family decided to name this coral after Natalie Petit. The Natalie's Southern Star Chalice is also named after the Southern Star observation wheel located in Melbourne Australia. That tourist attraction is currently closed, but the star pattern within this chalices corallites, looks similar to the spoke patterns within the Southern Star Observation Wheel.

Steve Tyree is maintaining a seed section of this coral for Reeffarmers.com in a 130 gallon Raceway Gyre BiZonal system. This system is naturally filtered with a semi-cryptic zone and a reef flat exposed zone. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positioned to receive moderate light levels from a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium metal halide. We currently assume moderate to weak light levels and moderate to strong water current are best. The price of this coral per small fragment consisting of a single polyp will be determined by the first edition auction below.


Reeffarmers Natalie's Southern Star Chalice corallite closeup images.
Both corallites exhibiting the Southern Star spoke pattern.
The patterns also slightly resemble fireworks streamers.
Images Copyright © 2010 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

Reeffarmers Actual Natalie's Southern Star Chalice First Edition fragment.
Actual First Edition fragment supplied by Art Petit.
Small two corallite fragment attached and established.
Mouth on left is expanded. Mouth on right is partially closed.
Image Copyright © 2010 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

Reeffarmers Actual Natalie's Southern Star Chalice First Edition fragment.
Both corallites partially exhibiting the Southern Star spoke pattern.
Image Copyright © 2010 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

Natalie's Southern Star Chalice January 2011 First Edition Silent Auction SOLD
Bid Amount
Name of Bidder
Status
$ 85.00
Kendra Baker Winning Bid

For this silent auction, bidders are required to give their full name and their winning bid along with an optional maximum bid. We will accept these bids via phone 909-989-9711. If no one is there leave a message. We also accept bids via email to reeffarmers@aceweb.com . Email bids will be processed in order of their time stamp. Reeffarmers will be answering the phone from noon to 7 PM PST on the final auction day. Other days we will tend to be here in the afternoon and evening. Accepted payment for the final winning bidder is paypal. The payment method we use for this silent auction is safe and secure. Please note - Your full real name will be displayed above. This is so the accuracy of the auction bidding process can be independently confirmed. Steve Tyree with Reeffarmers is the administrator for the auction. Bid increments are $5.00 . Next day shipping charge for this coral is $45.00 (UPS Express Saver). Local pickups have no shipping charge. California residents add 8.75 % sales tax. Please note - If you do not place a maximum your bid could be out bid within the final minutes of the auction. If you want to be called when your bid is no longer the winning bid, please let us know. Otherwise you may want to place a maximum bid.
Copyright © 2011 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

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