message from UK

["George Graham" <georgergraham@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Judy,

Thanks for you thoughts on my mystery stone.

Shale pits or common in the fingerlakes area, so maby this stone is a layer
of compressed  shale. Its flat blackness is its most distinctive quality.
The word " pitched " is a stonecutters term that discribes what a cutter is
doing as he or she is knocking flakes off a slab of (usually) granite, using
specialized hand tools only used in the granite industry.

When stone was commonly used in the buildings, stonecutters were very busy,
but now they are mainly found in the monument industry. I did this work in a
shop for 15 years, but now I'm out of it, (full time), thank god!

Thanks
George Graham