An Unusual Rock

This is one of my prized possessions.  Known in Korea as suseok (수석 --"water stone", aka "scholar's stone"), these rare stones are fantastically shaped or have naturally occurring imagery embedded in them, and being considered minor miracles of nature, can fetch high prices among collectors.  The most valuable specimens actually command prices ranging in the hundreds of thousands of US dollars!  This particular stone was not nearly so expensive (obviously, since I was able to afford it), but its fascinatingly landscape-like "view" is quite genuine.  Perhaps in ancient times people would have considered these miniature worlds to be proof of the earth's power of spontaneous generation.