Search the Community

Here is a quick write up on the 2022 MAPS (Mid America Paleontological Society) Fossil Show. The hotel show started on Wednesday, the day I arrived and the actual show at the Orr Building on the Fairgrounds property started this morning (Friday) and continues until Sunday afternoon. This is the second year that the show has been held in Springfield and the venue (Hotel and Orr Building) are so much nicer that years past in Iowa City. The show is not that as big as in years past, and maybe with the new venue it will once again be the size it was when it was held in the Main building at Western Illinois University- Macomb. I know it is billed as the largest “all fossil show”, but in my opinion, I feel that they should open it up to gems / minerals. I think the added clientele will add a shot in the arm to the show, and the dealers will see an increase in sales from the added foot traffic, that will lead to an increase in impulse / curiosity buying- but that is just my opinion. Now on with the pictures. I did take pictures of a lot of fossils, but I will only post the pictures that do not show prices. Besides myself, other FF members that were in attendance were @stats , @fiddlehead, @Roby , @RCFossils , @ParkerPaleo and @crinus. I know there were other members there and if I missed you, I apologize. Here is Tim (ParkerPaleo) And here is Rich (Stats) 2nd from the left and Jack (Fiddlehead) far right. A White River Saber Cat - I took a number of more pics at the hotel show and the main venue, but to edit the pics to hide the prices is just too long of a process. The show had a small area for kids to search for fossils, there were a couple of presentations that took place during the show, there was a live auction and after the show closed, the was a talk at the hotel location, which is only 8 minutes away. After the show, there was another lecture that was held at the hotel (Northfield Inn an Conference Center). I will again head there in the morning to see if any other vendors show up. If you have not been to this show, I would recommend it and maybe the increased presence will be the jump start that I think it needs. On the next post, I will have pics of some of the fossils / books that I purchased at the hotel show and main show.

Found this in my grandmas yard, 20 miles south of Springfield MO. If this is petrified wood, how should I properly clean it? Thank you

Found this while at work so unfortunately this was the only picture I could snap since rock was too large to carry back at the time. This is the first time I've seen this pattern and shape in a fossil around here so I'm hoping someone knows what it is. It's length was roughly 3-5 inches if thats of any help.

Hello. I spent a few hours looking around my land outside of Cabool, MO. I found some fossils, but first- is this anything cool?

Hello again. I found these yesterday. The clam is a dead giveaway(correct?), and the one on the top left is a coral, I'm guessing. What about the rest? Any help would be great. You see, I'm a carpenter. If it were a piece of dimensional lumber, I could ID it by smell and feel alone. hahaha

Hello from the heart of the salem plateau. I bought 20 acres outside of Cabool, MO. The plot has a few deep cuts exposing a lot of marine fossils, minerals, and such. This specimen doesn't look like anything I've seen thus far. Please help me ID this guy. Thanks and Season's Greetings.