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jakesrocks
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Got a surprise from a friend today. A Neospirifer from the Pierre Shale in South Dakota.  It's a slow process, but this shell is cleaning up nicely. After soaking overnight in water I was able to pop quite a bit of the shale off. This shell is very heavy for its size, (1.425 " long), and seems to have at least partial pyrite replacement. The yellow color in the pics is the pyrite showing through. Very interesting ribbing and growth lines. Once I'm finished with cleaning, I'll post new pics. |
A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don  |
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jakesrocks
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Shell mostly cleaned. Needs soda blasting yet. Preliminary identification is Brachyspirifer audaculus. This may change after digging deeper in the books.  Updated 6/11/2013. More cleaning. Pyrite is really starting to show. I'm afraid I may loose details if I do much more cleaning.  |
A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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Bentiron
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If I remember correctly there was an article in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine about a similar fossil from New Mexico that had some interesting crystal formations inside them, nice looking cabs and beads made from them.
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jakesrocks
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This one is from the Pierre Shale formation in South Dakota, and appears to be about 90% pyrite replacement.
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A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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jakesrocks
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I'll soon be able to display my fossils and fossil books properly. Tonight I ordered an antique barristers bookcase with 4 shelves with glass doors and a small drawer at the bottom. Can't wait to dig the fossils out of their boxes and wrappings.
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A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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jakesrocks
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Bolivian Trilobites that arrived today.  |
A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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lonelygems
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Congratulation for your new trilobits collections Don....  I wonder how did you/they know there is a trilobit or other fossils inside a nodules? |
Daniel
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jakesrocks
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Daniel, I'd guess that someone found a mud nodule that had broken open naturally and saw the critter inside. That probably led to the person breaking a few open to see if anything was inside them. We have similar mud balls in the Pierre Shale in north central South Dakota. Some can weigh up to several hundred pounds, and have beautiful ammonites and bivalves inside of them. The last shell I posted came from one of the Pierre mud balls.
I'm going to try to take a 2 or 3 day trip over to the Pierre Shale later this year, to collect a few of the smaller mud balls. It's only about a 2 hour trip from where I live.
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A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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jakesrocks
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I scored a bunch of much needed fossil cleaning tools on ebay. 22 used dental pics. These are great for cleaning in hard to reach places. They are stainless surgical steel, can be heated and bent to the shape needed, and can be resharpened many times.  |
A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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jakesrocks
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These will be the last fossil pics for a while. I just spent a load of money on aluminum framing materials for my fossil / mineral prep bench, and can't afford any more fossils for a while. First an enrolled specimen, so named because most trilobites were able to role into a ball as a defense against larger critters that wanted to eat them. Pennaia verneuili (enrolled).  Very rare Vagesina lacunafera.  |
A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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lonelygems
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Daniel, I'd guess that someone found a mud nodule that had broken open naturally and saw the critter inside. That probably led to the person breaking a few open to see if anything was inside them. We have similar mud balls in the Pierre Shale in north central South Dakota. Some can weigh up to several hundred pounds, and have beautiful ammonites and bivalves inside of them. The last shell I posted came from one of the Pierre mud balls.
I'm going to try to take a 2 or 3 day trip over to the Pierre Shale later this year, to collect a few of the smaller mud balls. It's only about a 2 hour trip from where I live.
Very interesting Don, if i'm right....we not always got same type of fossils inside a mud nodule and there is also an empty one or a fake one. |
Daniel
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jakesrocks
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LOL. We get a lot of mud balls with nothing inside too.
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A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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lonelygems
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Thats it what i mean....kind of gambling if buy a mud nodule...:):)
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Daniel
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jakesrocks
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Daniel, I can't speak for Indonesia, but over here you seldom see unbroken mud nodules for sale. I've only seen small batches of them for sale twice. For those who collect and sell, the money is in the opened and proven nodules. And they have to open an awful lot of nodules to find the ones worth selling.
I'll collect some nodules from the Pierre Shale in the near future. For every 10 that I bring home, I expect 1 to really have a prize in it. Some of the largest and best ammonites in the world have come from the Pierre Shale. Usually in mud nodules weighing 50 pounds or more. I'll be happy if I can find a little one.
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A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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jakesrocks
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Received today from Teddy. A nice big enrolled trilobite, and a fossil coral head. Need to hit the books for an ID on the trilobite. Thank you Teddy.   |
A day spent without learning something new, is a day wasted. Don |
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