No, this is nothing to do with whacking Iraq or hitting my thumb with a hammer...

But it is like a Sponge Bob cartoon come to life. There is an episode where Sponge Bob shows Squidward his sculpting skills by hitting a marble block once with a hammer and VOILA a perfect statue of David is revealed.

I hit an opal rich rock once, splintering it into several pieces and a perfect little red cardinal was revealed.
(with an oveactive imagination) This is what it looks like with no enhancement or carving or polishing...
http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/don1/cardinal.jpg

http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/don1/cardinal3.jpg


http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/don1/cardinal1.jpg

http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/don1/cardinalf.jpg






The other half of the rock turned out to be a giant nugget of colorful opal which is lightly sanded to show some color...
http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/don/nugget3.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/don/nuggetf.jpg



A commercial artist Bob Ross called these things happy accidents.